Why antique collectors in Keralam are raising an alarm over online fraud

Heavily refurbished antiques and replicas are reportedly flooding online markets operated by fraudsters seeking to cheat amateur collectors. | Photo Credit: K. Ragesh

A photograph of an apparently rare antique, accompanied by an unusually low price, can be enough to draw an unsuspecting buyer into an online transaction. But for Keralam’s antique collectors, such offers are increasingly becoming a warning sign as fraudsters exploit the growing online market to sell replicas, refurbished objects or, in some cases, nothing at all.

In the wake of the increasing number of online cheating cases, experienced antique collectors have called for utmost vigil while dealing with unverified online offers for buying and selling antiquities. They have also flagged the increasing number of exclusive social media groups run by anonymous admins to carry out fraudulent trades.

P. Radhakrishnan, an antique collector from Kuzhalmannam in Palakkad, says the most common online trick is the misuse of genuine photographs and videos of rare antiques. According to him, fraudsters steal images of antiques from genuine collectors and repost them on platforms controlled by them, offering the objects at prices low enough to attract buyers.