E-Paper
Panchkula: Software engg duped of ₹4L in ‘work from home’ job scam
The victim was persuaded to deposit increasing amounts after being moved to another group named “Formal L Employee Group” and given more tasks
A 32-year-old software engineer from Sector 26 was allegedly duped of ₹4.25 lakh in a “work from home” online task fraud case. In a complaint lodged at the cyber crime police station, the victim alleged that she received a WhatsApp message on September 21 from a person who identified herself as Mariyam.
She offered the victim a “work from home” job and initially assigned her three small review tasks. After successfully completing these, the fraudster deposited ₹123 as “income” into the victim’s bank account, building her trust.
Following this, Mariyam shared a Telegram App link, which led the victim to a group named “Novice Group.” Upon joining, she was given three more review tasks and was again credited with ₹123 for their completion.
The fraudsters then escalated the scam, luring the victim with promises of high returns. They stated that depositing money into their bank account would yield significant profits: 30% profit for deposits made via UPI and 40% profit for deposits made directly through the bank.
The victim was persuaded to deposit increasing amounts after being moved to another group named “Formal L Employee Group” and given more tasks.
However, after she had deposited a huge amount of money hoping for the promised profit, the fraudsters informed her that her ID had been “freezed” due to an alleged mistake committed while completing a task. She was then told to deposit another ₹1.50 lakh to unfreeze her account.
Despite making this payment, her ID remained frozen, and the fraudsters demanded more money. The victim made multiple transactions amounting ₹4.25 lakh before finally realizing she had been defrauded.
The cybercrime police have registered a case under sections 316(2), 318(4), and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and have launched an investigation into the matter.
