Malad architect loses Rs 7 lakh to ‘like video-and-earn’ fraud

“On May 2, she first received a message from an unknown number, and the sender identified herself as one Aliya. The complainant showed interest in the job. After liking the first video, she received Rs 50. Later, she completed more tasks and got paid,” said a police officer, who added that the architect gradually trusted the system and was soon added to a Telegram group and given more tasks.

After getting paid, she was asked by Aliya to invest a bigger amount if she wanted to earn a bigger profit, he said.

“She was directed to send Rs 1,000 to a number via UPI. Then she received back a total of Rs 1,600. She was excited and invested more as per Aliya’s instructions. Later, she transferred Rs 5,000 on a given UPI ID, but this time she did not get her money or the commission. On enquiry, she was told that to get Rs 5,000, she would have to invest Rs 30,000, to which she agreed. But still did not get the money,” the officer said.

The police said that the architect kept following the instructions of the scammer as every time the woman asked for her money, Aliya would demand a bigger amount so as to not lose the previously deposited money and hence the architect finally ended up depositing Rs 7.16 lakh.

Once the complainant realised that she was cheated, she threatened Aliya of filing a police complaint, and then her name was removed from the Telegram group, the officer added.

She explained the matter to her husband and the couple filed a complaint. The Kurar-Village police have registered a case against an unidentified person under sections 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resources) of the Information Technology Act.

The police have written to service providers to get details of the mobile numbers, bank accounts, and UPI IDs used in the crime.