In the last couple of months, there has been a rise in reported incidents involving individuals falling prey to fraudulent schemes, resulting in loss of money. These scams typically begin with the victims receiving promising “part-time job offers” that involve earning money by liking YouTube videos to get paid. To establish trust, the scammers initially deposit a small amount of money into the victims’ accounts. However, as the victims grow more trusting, the scammers cajole them into investing larger amounts, promising even greater returns. Till now, numerous people have been duped of large amounts of money through such scams. A recent incident involves an IT engineer from Pune, who was promised 30 per cent return on her investment and ended up losing Rs 49 lakh.
The incident happened between March 28 and April 28. A complaint has been registered two months later. Snehasingh Hridaynarayan Singh (35), a resident of Hinjewadi, filed a complaint at the Hinjewadi police station. Accordingly, a case has been registered against Adhuri Ganguly.
According to a report by Pune Mirror, scammers approached an IT engineer hailing from Hinjewadi, Pune with a job offer in which all she had to do was like YouTube videos. The incident, as per the report, happened between March 28 and April 28. A complaint was filed two months after the incident at the Hinjewadi police station.
The police revealed that the victim got an enticing job-offer message on WhatsApp that promised her extra income by liking YouTube videos. Initially, the woman, who is an IT engineer, got the payment of Rs 150 and Rs 350 by completing the tasks as assigned by the scammer. Once the victim began trusting the fraudster, the scam took a major turn and the woman was asked to invest some money for further tasks. The fraudster had promised the victim a 30 per cent return on the amount invested. The victim then invested a total of Rs 49 lakh in hopes of getting a 30 per cent return but that didn’t happen as the scammer never returned any amount.
Talking about such incidents, API Anil Lohar told Mirror, “Cyber criminals keep on updating and changing their methods. People should be alert while performing online transactions and avoid clicking on unknown or suspicious links. Never share your bank details or OTP with anyone. There are many cases where frauds happen by asking to perform online tasks for money, people should not trust such schemes.”
There are a couple of things that people can keep in mind in order to stay safe from such scams. Firstly, it is best to apply for jobs from authentic portals dedicated to the same like LinkedIn, Naukri.com, Indeed, etc. However, if you must apply for jobs via other means, perform a thorough check of the person who is offering the job and check how legitimate he/she is. Ask them for details like their name, the name of their company, etc. A simple Google search at times can help you to identify if the company that is offering the job even exists or not.
Also, be very careful before filling out your personal information like name, phone number etc, and ensure that the same is entered on credible websites only.
Finally, never transfer money into a stranger’s bank account and do not share your banking credentials with anyone.
Article source: indiatoday
