A housewife lost nearly Rs 10.97 lakh in a pre-paid online task fraud. The scammers had promised her lucrative returns for rating and reviewing hotels online. Initially, the victim was given some money to gain her trust, and then she was induced to pay money to earn higher commissions.
Background of case
According to the police, the complainant is a resident of Thane. On November 14, the victim received a WhatsApp message informing her about a part-time earning opportunity. She was asked to rate and review hotels online, for which she was promised a commission.
Initially, the victim received Rs 1230 and Rs 2100 upon completion of tasks, and then, in a span of a few days, she was induced to transfer Rs 10.97 lakh to the beneficiary bank account details provided by the scammers. The victim was promised Rs 13.13 lakh in returns on her investment. However, when the victim did not receive her money, she confronted the fraudsters.
Case filed
She was then asked to perform more tasks to get her returns, after which the victim realized she had been duped. She then approached the police and got an offense registered in the matter on Saturday. A case has been registered by the police under section 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.
