Elderly woman, banker, post-grad click on FB, Insta, WhatsApp links of job opportunities, lose Rs 22.13 lakh

The message read, “Time is a bird for ever on the wing. Your offer has been sent, please click… to check.” The complainant replied to the message asking for more details.

The fraudster replied to the complainant’s message saying, “Hello, nice to meet you, we are hiring for online stores worldwide. Are you here to learn how to make easy money online? Our platform is mainly to help Amazon merchants check product sales and earn commissions on a part-time basis.”

The complainant was asked to send Rs 100 and sometime later received Rs 228. He then sent another Rs 500 through UPI transaction and sometime later received Rs 959. He then received a message from the fraudster that he has been registered with their company and another message which read, “Dear friends, you add the telegram of our professional tutor, the tutor will guide you along the way to complete the task and earn a generous commission. Telegram address…”

The complainant then created a Telegram account and received a message, “Hello! This is the mall task center, please provide your mall account member name” The complainant fell for the trap and ended up investing Rs 4.38 lakh in 10 transactions thinking he will get a hefty commission.

He finally realised he was being cheated and approached the Bandra police station and registered an FIR on November 1.

Bank manager 

In another case, a 28-year-old deputy bank manager in Mumbai fell prey to cyber fraud and lost Rs 2.53 lakh. An FIR has been registered by the Navghar police station on November 1. On October 23, the complainant saw an advertisement on his Instagram account. The advertisement read, “Hello, we are… an investment company in partnership with Amazon. Urgently recruiting part-time/full-time employees, with a daily salary of around 1000-8000Rs.”

The complainant clicked on the link and received a WhatsApp message on his phone. The message asked the complainant to open a “work account” after clicking on the link that was provided. After the bank manager created a work account, he received another message where he was asked to join a Telegram account to receive tasks.

After creating the Telegram account he received another message which read, “You are welcome to join, I will now pull you into our task release group, the task release group will randomly update lucky tasks, and lucky tasks will get higher rewards.”

After paying some amount and completing the first task, the complainant received another message which read, “Now please choose to complete your second task according to the actual situation. The personnel department will approve your employment application and refund your earnings for the day immediately. Regular employee will have more than 3888 rupees of commission sent to your account every day and you can repeat the same task.”

Elderly woman

In a somewhat similar case, a 57-year-old woman from Maharashtra lost Rs 15.22 lakh after she clicked on a ‘work from home’ advertisement link on Facebook. An FIR was lodged at the Dombivali police station in Thane district on October 31 and the woman told the police that she was asked to purchase products on Amazon and promised a 40 per cent commission on her investment.

The complainant told the police that she was scrolling through her Facebook account on September 18 when she came across the advertisement for “work from home”.

When she clicked on the link, she was redirected to the WhatsApp number of a woman. The woman identified herself as Maria De Leon and gave the complainant another number and said it was her senior’s phone number. When the complainant contacted the second mobile number, a person identified himself as Tain Lojoro and offered her a part-time job.

As a part of the job, she had to buy Amazon products for which she was promised a 40 per cent commission, the complainant told the police. The woman ended up spending Rs 15.22 lakh in the month of September. Later, the fraudsters asked her to pay Rs 3 lakh which she refused. The complainant initially tried to communicate with the fraudsters for a few days hoping they would return the money but finally approached the police.