Mira-Bhayandar: Five women staying in the jurisdiction of the Kashimira police station collectively lost more than Rs 74.54 lakh after falling prey to lucrative income generation schemes floated by cyber criminals in different cases.
All the victims were lured into investing money through advertisements posted on various social media platforms which offered work-from-home earning opportunities under the guise of boosting the sale of branded products in exchange of hefty commissions and in some cases promising attractive returns in stock trade.
Notably, the cyber crooks in an apparent attempt to gain the trust of their targets doled out handsome returns towards the first few investments. A 46-year-old complainant received a profit of Rs 12,000 on the first investment of Rs 10,000. She went on to invest more than Rs 11.25 lakh via 20 transfer transactions to specified bank accounts within a span of less than 15 days.
Although she could see her profit soaring in the investment application, she neither got back her investment nor the profit. After approaching the Kashimira police station, she learnt that she was not alone, four other women had been duped using similar modus-operandi.
The complaints were compiled and an offence under the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) and Information Technology Act was registered at the Kashimira police station against the cyber fraudsters on Sunday. The police were on a money trail by identifying the bank accounts in which the ill-gotten wealth had been parked.
The MBVV police advised citizens to be aware of investment scams and asked them to avoid suspicious links, WhatsApp calls, and messages from unknown numbers.
In case of any cyber-related offences, people can directly approach the local police stations or lodge a complaint with the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in) or call the cybercrime helpline 1930.
