A Gurugram man lost Rs. 25 lakh after being offered a job working from home on Telegram
In the last several months, there has been an increase in cybercrimes in India. Many times, victims have fallen for the con artists’ lure and ended up losing a sizable sum of money. Sometimes, they’ll phone and ask for your OTP numbers, or they’ll lure folks in by pretending to have openings in their company. In a recent example, a Gurugram resident lost around Rs 25 lakh while looking for a work-from-home position. On Telegram, the con artist contacted him and requested that he do certain menial jobs. Subrata Ghosh, a resident of Sector 57 in Gurugram, reportedly got a job offer over the Telegram app, according to report.
When he expressed interest in the offer, a guy called him and enticed him with deceptive promises. The guy was then informed that he would be assigned chores each day and that all he needed to do was rate the links that would be sent to him with a perfect five-star rating.
The caller also provided several pre-paid assignments, where the con artist promised that the investment would be worthwhile, according to Ghosh’s police report. He was then required to make a Rs 10,000 investment before evaluating 30 links with a perfect score.
Ghosh started to believe the fraudster because of the early rewards for performing the chores. The con artist then persuaded him to invest a sizeable sum by promising him a bigger return on his investment. When Ghosh admitted to having some reservations, the con artists warned him that if he didn’t comply, his account will freeze and he wouldn’t be able to withdraw money.
“In a similar vein, I invested Rs 25,29,176, however the accused forbade me from withdrawing the money. They even threatened to hijack my bank account if I did not deposit another Rs. 12 lakh. Following that, I went to the police,” Ghosh said in his complaint.
Nikhil Kamath, a co-founder of Zerodha, already issued a warning after a friend of his fell victim to a fraudster in a situation similar to this. But how can you stay away from such circumstances?
Before expressing interest in such offers, make sure you do your homework on the firm. Additionally, keep in mind that you should never give up your bank account and personal information over the phone or by email.
Try to avoid clicking any unfamiliar links that you may get in emails, texts, or even on social media.
Ask your acquaintance before donating any money if you get a message from their social media account asking for it since someone can be impersonating them.
