- The victim received a text message offering him part-time employment on his mobile phone.
- The cybercriminals gave him a “welcome bonus” of Rs 10,000 to win his trust.
- An FIR has been filed against the scammers at the cyber police station.
Online scams offering part-time jobs are currently on the rise. There have been several incidents in the recent past where a number of users were scammed after they were offered part-time jobs by unknown people via several mediums, including WhatsApp messages and calls. But according to a recent media report, a 56-year-old Pune-based ad filmmaker lost Rs 96.57 lakh to scammers in a few days after receiving a text message offering him a part-time position. Let us see the matter in detail.
Online part-time job scam
The victim received a text message offering him part-time employment on his mobile phone. He was asked to join a group on a chat app after he responded to the phone number provided in the message.
In an effort to gain the victim’s trust after he accepted the position, the cybercriminals gave him a “welcome bonus” of Rs 10,000 and assured him of lucrative rewards for evaluating corporate travel management (CTM) companies.
Later, they even advised him to finish some pre-paid activities to get better outcomes and more money. The victim made many transfers after falling for the con artists’ rhetoric before realising he was being taken advantage of when they demanded more money.
Before giving him the task to review and grade a travel agency, the scammers first convinced the victim to transfer Rs 21,990 into their bank accounts in two instalments for pre-paid work, quoting the FIR, the report stated. They returned Rs 24,809 to the victim. Ultimately, they were able to convince him to deposit Rs 80,000 for eight evaluations, and they ultimately made a total of Rs 94,840, including the fee.
The scammers demanded Rs 1 lakh for a job after gaining the victim’s trust but failed to return the money with the commission. When the victim asked for the money, the cybercriminals demanded Rs 35.25 lakh from him and promised to refund the entire amount with a larger commission.
As per the report, the scammers stole the amount between September 25th and November 5th. An FIR has been filed against the scammers at the cyber police station, but the police have not yet located and apprehended the suspects. Meanwhile, the banks have been requested to freeze the accounts where the money was transferred.
