Consider a straightforward scenario, a customer receives a message that appears to be a delivery notification. The branding on the message looks familiar, the link looks legitimate
This is the daily reality for millions of Indian shoppers, and it is one of the most important problems I work on.
India’s e-commerce revolution has been extraordinary. Today, a consumer can access a wider selection of products than ever before. They can compare prices across many companies at once. They can make a purchase without ever leaving the couch, and the product they want comes straight to the door. But as India's digital footprint has grown, so have the tactics of those looking to exploit it. Fake customer support accounts can monitor social media complaints. Payment scams can lure shoppers away from secure platforms. Phishing websites can impersonate trusted brands, including ours. These are not hypothetical scenarios — they're the daily reality for millions of Indian consumers.
Technology is a part of the answer, and I’ll come back to that. But technology alone isn’t enough, because most scams happen outside our store, they happen in inboxes, phone calls and social media platforms where a consumer has no way of knowing who they are dealing with. The most powerful protection we can give a consumer is knowledge. That’s the idea Mission GraHAQ (consumer) is built on.
Mission GraHAQ: From street plays to a national movement
In 2022, Mission GraHAQ was launched as a consumer literacy initiative at grassroots across India. Customer safety and scam prevention was introduced across 100 tier 2 and tier 3 cities using street plays, radio shows and community activations. The goal of Mission GraHAQ was to bridge the growing divide in India between the rapid adoption of e-commerce and limited consumer awareness and education of digital safety.
The name draws from the Hindi word haq, meaning rights, a signal of the initiative's core belief: that every consumer has the right to shop safely and the right to know how.
Now in its fourth edition, Mission GraHAQ has grown into a comprehensive national program. On July 31, Amazon marked the next chapter by commissioning the launch of "Your Guide to Safe Online Shopping" by Safer Internet India (SII), a consumer handbook available now to shoppers across India. It covers nine of the most common industry-wide scams targeting Indian consumers today, from fake delivery notifications and payment scams to fraudulent customer support accounts and membership renewal fraud, with real-world scenarios and clear warning signs for each.
Three steps to becoming a "Viksit GraHAQ"
The Handbook’s goal is straightforward: transform every consumer into a "Viksit GraHAQ" - meaning an evolved, empowered consumer. And it lays out three steps to get there: awareness, action, and resources.
Shikshit GraHAQ (The Informed Consumer): The first step is awareness. To educate consumers about the online shopping landscape, the Handbook details nine of the most common scams: fake websites and phishing links, fake delivery scams, "Too good to be true" deals, empty box scams, payment scams, fake urgency scams, delivery box scams, fake customer support accounts, and membership renewal scams. It illustrates each one with real-world scenarios and clear warning signs, so whether the reader is a first-time online shopper or an experienced digital consumer, they’ll know what to watch for.
Satark GraHAQ (The Vigilant Consumer): Awareness on its own isn’t enough. That’s why the Handbook's Safety Checklist section equips consumers with tangible and practical habits like verifying website URLs, checking ratings and reviews, using secure payment gateways, understanding OTP protections, and knowing how to evaluate product information before a purchase. It’s these habits that help consumers take their new knowledge of the landscape and put it to use.
Sashakt GraHAQ (The Empowered Consumer): From awareness to actionable habits, the Handbook concludes with the resources and rights that each consumer has at their disposal. It outlines protections under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, criminal liability for fraudsters under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and the IT Act, 2000, and provides clear steps for grievance redressal — including the National Consumer Helpline (1915) and the National Cyber Crime Helpline (1930).
Building a safer Digital India together
Mission GraHAQ demonstrates what's possible when industry, civil society, and government work together. The contribution of Amazon, and now SII — along with engagement from the government departments and consumer education associations — has created a model for industry-wide consumer protection. And by starting at the community grassroots level, with efforts across hundreds of cities reaching consumers through creative outlets like plays and radio shows, it has shown how to engage younger consumers in meaningful ways.
Education is one half of the equation. Technology is the other. Amazon invests heavily in technology to fight scams at their source. For instance, in 2025, we launched SENTRIX, an AI-powered system that can identify and report malicious phishing websites in less than 24 hours and scam phone numbers the same day. By investing significant resources in proactive controls like SENTRIX, we have enhanced our ability to prevent impersonation scams from impacting consumers.
Customers can report potentially fraudulent activities at Amazon.com/ReportAScam, available in 28 languages on mobile phones or desktop computers.
What comes next
The Handbook launch is just the beginning for Mission GraHAQ 4.0. In the months ahead, we will continue to amplify this content across various consumer education initiatives and marketing channels across India — reaching millions of consumers, particularly in underserved communities, with the knowledge they need to shop safely, recognise threats, and exercise their rights.
As India moves towards the vision of Viksit Bharat, Amazon will continue to work with our partners to enable India's consumers to become Viksit GraHAQ — informed, vigilant, and empowered to navigate the digital marketplace with confidence.