What is the biggest scam that every Indian must be aware of?
Recently I have come across a possible scam about counterfeit/fake products in India. Counterfeit/fake products are nothing new to Indian Society. These products are easily available in markets like Pallika Bazar (Delhi), Fashion street (Mumbai) etc. You can get first copy products of many branded companies included Puma, Nike, Adidas, Reebok (shoes, t-shirts etc), Micheal Kors, Guess (hand bags, Purse). There are markets where you can easily get copies of branded wrist watches and even perfumes. But people who buy products from these markets are aware of the fact that these are duplicate products.No, No… This is not the scam I am talking about. The scam starts from next level. It involves giant e-commerce websites including Snapdeal. The people who lives in India are pretty much aware of this e-commerce website and the discounts which it offers on multiple products including clothing, electronics and many other things.Recently, I was surfing on Facebook, then there was an advertisement regarding sales on Nike Shoes. It obviously got my attraction. I was amazed to see the discounts on shoes. Some discounts were close to 60% of the market value. It was a great deal. I thought of giving it a try because I did not want to miss the deal. And I am sure many people like me might have got attracted to same deals and bought the shoes from the website. I received the product within 3 days. When I opened the package, I was shocked to see that the shoes were duplicate (I am a regular user). I showed it to one of my friends, he told that Shi to hai yaar, tujhe aise hi lag rha h - (It is good bro, you are having false doubts). But still I wanted to get it tested from official Nike store to confirm. I visited the Nike store and they confirmed my doubt. The shoes were fake. I contacted Snapdeal regarding this problem. They told me that I can return the product and they would be refunding my money. But then I asked, what are you going to do to seller who is sending fake products using your website. He replied with standard answer - We will look into this matter. We take extreme care before onboarding any seller. Blah Blah…..!!! He even told me that the seller was Authorised Nike Dealer.Then, I understood the whole concept behind the huge discounts on branded materials. These websites are full of such kind of sellers. The sellers provide huge discounts on branded products (though they are cheap fake products which are easily available in market at no more than Rs. 500–700). They sell these products at Rs. 2000–3000 by showing the original price equivalent to Rs. 6000–10000 (Equivalent to original prices in showrooms). This is how these sellers are looting people by selling them fake products. It it hard to notice if the products received are fake or original for new users as they look exactly the same in every manner. Since they are coming from a trusted channel (like Snapdeal), nobody sheds a doubt and may take them as original.Now, you must be thinking why these website allow such sellers on their websites. The reason is simple, it increases the number of sales on their websites and WHO DOES NOT WANT THAT. After all, the investors are looking for these sales figures.I hope you understood the scam. Beware when you buy such items from e-commerce websites. You might be their next victim.Here are few tricks to avoid buying fake products:When you are buying from these website, look at the original price on which discount is being applied and the visit the official website of that brand. If the price is same, then it may or may not be original but if the price is different, I would suggest you to stay away from that product.Whenever you buy expensive branded products, just get it confirmed from an official store (if you can). It is completely useless to throw away your money on fake products unknowingly.Here some photographs related to this incident:Link to the product on Website: Nike Air Max 2017 Running ShoesLink to the Product on Nike Website: Look what I found at Nike online.