A man from Navi Mumbai has become the latest victim of the "online task" fraud. The 33-year-old man reportedly lost more than Rs 43 lakh to fraudsters who lured him under the pretext of earning big returns.
The man, a resident of Koparkhairane area, was contacted by the fraudsters over WhatsApp. He was told that he could earn good money if he completed a part-time job involving online tasks, PTI reported citing a police official.
"Hoping to earn good returns, the victim ended up paying Rs 43.45 lakh in different bank accounts but never received any remuneration," the official said quoting the First Information Report.
A case was registered under section 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). So far, no arrest has been made in the case.
The "online task" fraud typically entails trapping victims by making them perform tasks like liking videos and making small payments initially to win their trust. The victims were later lured to invest money to gain large returns.
A few days back, in a similar case, a Mumbai-based man lost almost Rs 18 lakh when he tried making some extra money online. The 48-year-old man was approached by scammers with an offer of making some quick money online. All he had to do was complete certain 'tasks'.
A resident of Kharghar, the victim told the police that some people contacted him for 'prepaid' online tasks with impressive returns. Initially, the victim did receive some money from these tasks.
However, he ended up losing Rs 17.9 lakh as he transferred the money in various accounts, hoping for returns, but never got any. The money, as per the victim, was transferred to four different bank accounts.
The cyber police station of Navi Mumbai registered a case of cheating based on the man's complaint.
In another incident, a 66-year-old man from Navi Mumbai lost Rs 17 lakh when he tried making some extra money by carrying out an online task.
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