FPJ Cyber Secure: Techie from Mira-Bhayandar loses ₹5 lakh after falling prey to hotel rating scam

A 41-year-old man from Bhayandar working in the billing department of a technology firm fell prey to the evil designs of cyber crooks who cheated him of more than ₹5 lakh under the pretext of offering attractive commissions on a work-from-home job by submitting ratings and reviewing hotels on travel portals.

In his statement to the police, the complainant said that he received a message on a social messaging platform from an unknown person who offered him a simple earning opportunity by rating hotels.

Upon agreeing, the complainant was added to a Telegram group on which he received photos of 28 hotels. After submitting ratings, the complainant initially received ₹800, ₹200 and ₹7289 as welcome bonus and earnings for the job.

He was then lured with offers of earning more money by making investments and upgrading his account for reviewing higher category hotels. However, despite depositing money into various bank accounts and finishing the tasks assigned to him, he neither got back his investments nor commission.

By the time he realised that he was duped, the complainant had ended up losing ₹5.09 lakh within a fortnight. An offence under the relevant sections of the IPC and Information Technology Act-2000 has been registered against unidentified callers at the Navghar police station in Bhayandar.

Cyber Safe Advisory:

According to Cyber Crime Cell under Crime Branch of Mumbai police, the most common form of online frauds are related to banks, online commerce platforms where fraudsters, posing as bank /platform officials, convince the victim to share OTP, KYC updates and sometimes send the links to be clicked to access bank accounts. “People should know that no bank or institution is authorised to demand bank details or PIN numbers. Unfortunately, educated people are falling prey to online frauds and losing lakhs of rupees,” explained DCP Cyber Crime, Balsingh Rajput