A 50-year-old woman from Seawoods lost Rs 14.3 lakh to cyber fraudsters in ‘YouTube Likes’ fraud. The victim woman was promised from ₹20 to ₹150 per like of videos on YouTube sent to her.
Initially, they paid a small amount as an income. Later they asked to first make a payment to complete a task and get the income and investment both together. Gradually, the investment amount increased and due to non-completion of the task, the investment amount also became.
Fraudster promised income by liking videos on YouTube
According to the complainant, the cyber fraudster approached her through a WhatsApp message regarding additional income by just liking videos of Youtubers. For each like, ₹150 will be given. The sender of the message identified herself as Mrs. Miya from “Media to Win Social Media Agency” from Mumbai. The cyber fraudster sent two links and to like and get money for each like.
Complainant was added in telegram group and was asked to pay
The complainant liked three videos and ₹150 was deposited in her bank account after the complainant liked the video in March third week. Later she was added in a different Telegram group for which she had to pay first starting from ₹1000 and gradually the amount kept increasing. Apart from daily income, she was promised to get daily income for the completion of tasks. The complainant agreed and paid ₹1000 and he got back ₹1300. Subsequently, the initial investment amount reached ₹67,000 and made the payment. Now, this time, the cyber fraudster said that the task was not completed and now she had to pay ₹3,60,000 to complete another task to get back all the money. She paid ₹3,60,000 and again the cyber fraudster told her that task was not completed.
Complaint was called to NRI Costal Police to lodge complaint
When the complainant demanded to return her money, they asked to first complete another task of ₹6,20,000 to get back all the money. When she said she did not have money, they told her another member would pay ₹5,00,000 lakh for her and she had to pay just ₹1,20,000. She followed and paid ₹1,20,000 and again the task was not completed and she was asked to pay ₹8,60,000. She transferred to a different bank account provided by them. Again, she was told that the task was not completed and asked to pay ₹8,24,000 for another task. When she insisted on returning all the money, they did not return it. Then she realised that she was cheated.
She lodged a complaint at the cyber portal and later she was called to NRI Coastal police station to register a complaint. The NRI Coastal police registered a complaint under section 420 of IPC and sections 66 C and 66 D of the IT Act and started an investigation.
