‘I want a man who will make me a mother’: Contractor duped of Rs 11 lakh in bizarre ‘pregnant job’ scam

Over the next few days, money was sought from the complainant on various pretext such as registration charges, identity card charges, verification, GST, TDS, processing fee charges, among others. An officer, who is part of the probe, said, “The complainant was lured, manipulated and at times coerced in such a way that he made over 100 small transfers totalling Rs 11 lakh between first week of September and October 23. These payments were done through UPI and IMPS transfers.”

As the complainant started asking them questions, the cyber fraudsters blocked him. Realising that he had been cheated, the complainant approached the police and an FIR was registered. “We have launched a probe into the cell numbers and bank accounts used by the fraudsters,” said the officer.

A cyber investigator from Pune said such scams have been reported from various parts of India starting late 2022. In several cases, cyber fraudsters have circulated social media advertisements with videos of women under names of entities like “Pregnant Job Service” offering large sums in lakhs to men supposedly hired to impregnate women. Drawn by these fraudulent advertisements, victims were asked to pay money for registration fees and later larger amounts on the pretext of medical tests, legal formalities, or security deposits. Once the money was transferred, the fraudsters disappeared. Police in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and other states have made arrests in such cases, revealing that these scams were part of wider cybercrime networks exploiting social media and fake video advertisements to lure victims.