A resident of Greater Noida fell victim to a cyber fraud, losing ₹20.54 lakh after being enticed by a work-from-home job offer received via WhatsApp. The scam involved tasks such as rating hotels on Google Maps initially, but escalated to investment activities, leading to substantial financial losses.
According to the police, Sandeep Kumar, residing in the Chi-1 sector of Greater Noida, reported that he received a message offering a work-from-home opportunity to rate hotels for monetary rewards. Subsequently, he was added to a Telegram group with approximately 100 members, where he began performing these tasks. However, the tasks soon included investment components.
“I started rating hotels etc. With these tasks, there were some investment tasks too where I invested ₹50,000 first, but I couldn’t withdraw the money from the website,” Sandeep Kumar explained in his complaint to the police.
As the situation progressed, Kumar found himself unable to access the ₹20,54,464 he had invested. The fraudsters demanded an additional ₹5 lakh as tax to release the funds, revealing the fraudulent nature of the scheme.
In addition to the financial loss, Kumar reported receiving threats from the perpetrators via Telegram and phone calls, demanding action to unfreeze the accounts.
The Cyber Crime police station in Noida Sector 36 has registered an FIR under sections 420 (cheating), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, and relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act. An investigation into the matter is currently underway.
