FPJ Cyber Secure: 47-Year-Old Woman Loses ₹8 Lakh In Hotel Rating Scam

Cyber-criminals duped a 47-year-old woman from Mira Road to the tune of nearly ₹8 lakh under the guise of offering attractive commissions on a work-from-home job by submitting ratings and reviewing hotels on travel portals. In her statement to the police, the complainant said that she received a text on a social messaging platform from an unknown person who offered her a simple earning opportunity by rating hotels.

As she was already looking for a job, the complainant who is the sole breadwinner of her family was added to a Telegram group. After submitting ratings, the complainant initially received ₹1400 as welcome bonus and earnings for the job. She was then lured with offers of earning more money by making investments. To gain her trust, the fraudsters also posted screenshots of profits earned by other participants in the group. But despite depositing money into various bank accounts and finishing the tasks assigned to her, she neither got back her investments nor the promised commission. 

Victim found out she was duped

After transferring the money to specified digital wallet accounts, she could see her profits soaring. However, she was unable to withdraw a single rupee. By the time she realised that she was duped, the complainant had ended up losing ₹7.95 lakh in seven deposit transactions within a period of 12 hours. An offence under the relevant sections of the IPC and Information Technology Act-2000 has been registered against unidentified callers at the cyber cell and Kashimira police station on Tuesday. Further investigations were underway.