With the Deepavali festival fast approaching, gullible people are being cautioned by the police to beware of online tricksters.
According to police officers, there are over 1,000 fireworks units - big, medium and small - in Virudhunagar district producing different types of crackers. The finished goods are transported to various destinations by road and other modes.
There are as many as 7,000 shops selling fire crackers for which licenses are issued by multiple departments.
Under such circumstances, utilising the festive mood, some tricksters have been actively selling fire crackers offering them at rock bottom prices with fabulous discounts online.
In the last few days alone, the Virudhunagar district police had registered 13 cases from people claiming to have been deceived to the tune of ₹10.90 lakh.
Preliminary probe revealed that they were fake online and the websites were not genuine. After getting the money credited through online, the tricksters had quietly vanished, a police officer said.
In Tamil Nadu, there were over 100 complaints received so far with over ₹1 crore being lost by the complainants, a senior officer in the DGP’s office said.
The public should ensure that the online trading was genuine and crosscheck through proper channels before making payment or they should purchase through reliable retail outlets in their cities.
Published - October 18, 2026 09:12 pm IST