Online shopping has now become an essential part of life in India. However, along with this trend, the methods used by fraudsters are also changing rapidly. The old phone call or OTP scams are now being left behind. A new, more dangerous, and widespread form of fraud is emerging—one that goes beyond the old OTP scams. This thing is now being called “Jamtara-style e-commerce fraud”, with one significant difference: This time, the entire operation is run by machines.
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For those who do not know about Jamtara, let us tell them that it is a district in the state of Jharkhand. A popular web series named *Jamtara* was also made from this place. In fact, Jamtara has long been a hub of cyber scams targeting people across the country and the world. This area is home to many groups that have been engaged in cyber fraud for years. A recent report has revealed that these fraudsters are now using a technique called “device farming”. Simply put, these people run hundreds—or thousands—of physical mobile phones or virtual devices at the same time.
Device Pharming: Fraud from e-commerce website
These devices are used to create fake accounts, thereby deceiving e-commerce websites. This entire operation depends more on automated systems and technology rather than human intervention. Earlier, fraudsters operating from Jamtara would make phone calls to unknown people, send them fake links, extract their OTPs, and siphon off their money. Now, those same fraudsters—or similar criminal networks—are taking advantage of advanced technology. The only difference is that you will no longer receive phone calls; Instead, the fraud is being carried out quietly and behind the scenes.
Imagine a situation where a shopping app is offering a discount of ₹500 on the user’s first order. A typical user will typically use this offer only once. But what does this criminal gang do? They create thousands of fake accounts. Each account is shown as a “New User”, allowing them to redeem the same ₹500 discount multiple times. In fact, while a genuine user avails the offer only once, this gang avails the same promotion thousands of times. This causes huge financial loss to the company and the entire operational system goes haywire.
**Device farming is actually a cluster of thousands of smartphones. Thousands of phones means thousands of SIM cards and thousands of accounts. Many types of fraudulent activities are carried out through these accounts. Scammers rely on such accounts to do everything from “bot pumping” to creating fake reviews. By posting fake reviews through these channels, the rating of a particular product is artificially inflated. On the contrary, they also post large number of comments and downvotes to artificially lower the rating of a product.
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a structured process
The sheer scale of this fraud shows that it is not the work of a small, isolated group. Reports suggest that an entire organized network works behind this scheme. Some people buy fake SIM cards, create other accounts, and then some place orders to buy goods that they then resell. In other words, it’s no longer just a scam; It’s turned into a whole business model. The whole operation is being called “Jamtara 2.0” because, though the idea behind it is the same, the methodology is completely new. Earlier, money was extracted from people by cheating them; Now, the system itself is being cheated. Its impact is not limited to just the companies involved. As such fraud activities increase, companies start reducing their promotional offers. Discounts get eroded, and end users suffer the consequences. In the end, it is the common people who have to pay the price.
Fraud is difficult to detect
The biggest challenge is the difficulty in detecting such fraudulent activities. Every account looks different, every device looks brand new, and the entire operation is completely automated. This is why companies are now relying more on AI and advanced security systems. However, it has actually become an ongoing arms race. On one hand, companies are strengthening their systems; On the other hand, fraudsters are devising new methods. One thing is clear from this whole situation: as technology is advancing, the methods of fraud are also increasing. The threat is no longer limited to phone calls or harmful links; Rather, it arises from ‘backend systems’ that are invisible to the eye—that operate silently, but have the potential to cause enormous harm.
