Mumbai woman looking for work-from-home job online loses Rs 1.15 lakh

After she clicked on the link, she was directed to the website of an online shopping mall.

“When she opened the said website, she came across multiple advertisements offering her work-from-home jobs. In these jobs, she was asked to buy products online, and in return, she would get her money back along with a commission,” a police officer said.

Initially, she paid Rs 100 and got her money and commission back. She then bought a product for Rs 1500 and in return got Rs 2147. To buy the product, she was made to transfer the money into an account via a UPI ID, the officer added. Trusting the job and the system, the woman bought expensive items.

According to the FIR, in all, the woman spent Rs 115,960 and waited for the company to pay her back. When the money was not credited to her account, she inquired about it and was asked to deposit more money to get the balance and the commission.

The woman then realised that she had been defrauded by cyber fraudsters. She then approached the Santacruz police station and filed a complaint.

The police on Monday registered a case against two unidentified persons 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 investigators are in the process of approaching service providers to get details of the mobile numbers, bank accounts, UPI IDs, and eWallets used in the crime.