Advance-fee fraud

Advance-fee fraud asks you to pay a small fee first to receive a bigger reward, job, loan or parcel. The reward never arrives.

Advance-fee fraud: Advance-fee fraud is any scam that asks you to pay money up front to receive something bigger later, such as a loan, job, prize, inheritance or refund. After you pay, new fees appear, or the scammer vanishes. The promised payoff does not exist.

Examples in India include a loan that needs a processing fee, a job that needs a registration or uniform fee, a customs charge for a gift parcel from abroad, and an insurance bonus that needs tax paid first. Each request sounds small and reasonable, and the story makes it seem sensible to pay. The pattern is always the same: pay a little now, receive a lot later.

After the first payment, there is always another reason for another payment: a bank fee, a lawyer, a mistake in the form. Genuine banks deduct charges from the loan and genuine employers do not charge candidates. Stop at the first advance payment request. Keep the chat, do not send more money to "recover" the first, and report on cybercrime.gov.in. A request for another payment is proof that the offer is false, not a reason to pay again.

Tips

• Do not pay anything up front for a loan, job, prize or refund.
• Stop at the first fee; scammers always have a next one.
• Ask a family member to review the offer before you pay.

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