The victim received a message for part-time job opportunity on her messaging app. She was lured into the scam on the pretext of earning extra money by performing online tasks.
Read More:- Stop Overpaying Taxes! Learn How To Claim Rs 10,000 Deduction On Your Interest Income Now
Pune: Scammers are constantly evolving their tactics to defraud online users of their money. And recently a new job scam is spreading on social media where the scammers are sliding into people’s DMs and feeds and are promising easy part-time work and extra cash.
Similar was the case with a woman ophthalmologist from Maharashtra’s Pune, who fell victim to such a scam and lost Rs. 24 lakh. The victim was given a simple task of liking YouTube videos where she was promised valuable returns.
Read More:– Delhi Metro alert: Delay in services on the Yellow Line. Details here
The trap
According to reports, the woman received a message which detailed a work-from-home opportunity and in order to attain more details regarding the job, the victim contacted the person and later applied for employment.
All she needed to do was perform simple tasks like clicking the “like” button on YouTube videos. Believing the alleged scammers, the woman applied for the job. She was reportedly paid Rs. 10,275 for completing her tasks in the beginning.
After gaining the victim’s trust, they offered her prepaid tasks and promised more money if she invested in their cryptocurrency scheme.
She transferred Rs. 23.83 lakh to two bank accounts between March 28 and April 22. Later, when the woman decided to withdraw the amount, the scammers asked for an additional Rs. 30 lakh.
However, when she refused to pay, she couldn’t contact them.
Similar incident
A similar incident was reported in Pune, where a young engineer lost around Rs.9 Lakhs between April 14 and 20. The complainant had received a message on April 12, offering a part-time job offering Rs.5000 a day for liking videos and earning Rs 50 per like.
He was instructed to invest in prepaid tasks where he could earn 30 percent of profit. Upon following their instructions, the engineer earned Rs. 500 within a few hours.
Believing them, the engineer transferred Rs 12,000 to a UPI ID provided to him. He earned Rs16,000. The complainant then sent Rs5 lakh through three transactions on April 14.
Also Read– Petrol, Diesel Fresh Prices Announced: Check Fuel Rates in Chandigarh, Mumbai, Other Cities
However, online scammers closed the group and informed him to send more money if he needs his money back. According to the police report the victim joined a new group on April 19 and transferred Rs3.96 lakh through seven transactions on April 20. In total, he lost Rs 8.96 lakh to the scammers.
Last month, a woman in Gurgaon was cheated of nearly Rs 11 lakh by fraudsters on the pretext of hitting likes for YouTube videos.
Earlier this year, daughter of a Lucknow-based businessman was duped of Rs 27 lakh by cyber fraudsters who promised handsome returns on investment in digital marketing. The woman was approached through WhatsApp and offered her a job in which she had to ‘like’ YouTube videos.
Also Read– Do You Love Travelling? Know Why Travel Insurance Is Important
In all the cases, there were a number of similarities, where the victims were connected through social media platforms and the messages were received through WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram and were sent YouTube links to like in exchange for money. Once the victims have received the money the victims began to trust the scammers and invested more money in other tasks.
How to prevent such yourself from scammers?
Today, most scammers lure their victims through social media. If you get a text or call offering a work opportunity to earn extra money, first research the company before applying.
Be cautious about giving out personal information such as identity cards or bank account numbers.
Do not accept or transfer money as legitimate employers will never ask you to send money for a job.
