A 40-year-elderly person in India, an IT proficient himself, was supposedly fooled into losing INR3.7 million (over PKR9.5 million) all the while assuming a pretense of getting a rewarding commission, revealed India Today.
Users appear to be safe from online fraud and scams on no single internet platform. Consumers frequently disregard safety measures or accidentally fall victim to online fraud despite all warnings.
An unidentified woman sent a Telegram message to the victim, a resident of Mira Road, on November 22. According to a report from The Free Press Journal, the woman contacted the victim and offered the opportunity to earn money online. The victim was informed by the woman that he could earn a respectable commission by rating some of her company’s products online.
After getting the victim’s attention later, a different woman got in touch with him and told him to do certain things on the platform. After she shared the URL of a website with him, he was prompted to log in. The victim was reassured by the woman that his earnings would immediately be deposited into his online e-wallet once the assignment was completed.
The IT specialist began carrying out the tasks outlined on the website on November 28 in accordance with all of the instructions. According to his police complaint, one of the goals was to give various travel accommodations five stars. He was likewise educated that each time he got done with a job, he would be expected to pay premium charges; He would then get his earnings back to pay these fees.
After receiving all of the instructions, the victim began working on the assignments, and his earnings were shown in his online e-wallet. The victim allegedly had spent INR3.78 million on the assignments by December 3, and his earnings were listed as INR4.15 million on the website.
After completing the tasks and depositing a sizable sum in his e-wallet, the victim requested a withdrawal. The request, on the other hand, was still marked as pending. When he went back to check the website, he was surprised to find that both the Telegram group and the website had vanished.
A case was filed in accordance with sections 420 of the Indian Penal Code (cheating and dishonestly inducing the handover of property) and 66D of the Information Technology Act (personation fraud using computer resources) following the victim’s complaint.
In recent years, there have been significantly more reports of cyber fraud worldwide. People still fall for scams and frauds, despite the efforts of the police and cyber security agencies to educate and protect them from them.
