Job con: In search of extra money for mother’s treatment, man loses ₹7.7 lakh

The complainant – James Emmanuel, a resident of Bhandup West – has been working with an Australian finance company in Vikhroli as an IT engineer for the last two years.

Mumbai: A 30-year-old man, who urgently needed money for his mother’s treatment, lost ₹7.70 lakh to cyber frauds on the pretext of earning extra through a part-time job and investing in cryptocurrencies.

“Emmanuel’s mother suffers from liver-related ailment and the doctors had advised her to get operated on as soon as possible. He required around ₹4 lakh for the treatment. At the time when the complainant was thinking of an additional source of income, he got a message from cyber frauds about part-time jobs. He was told that the job was related to cryptocurrency and that if he invested ₹2,000 he could get up to ₹5,000. They told him that they could make profits due to fluctuations in the cryptocurrency market and could share the profit with him,” said a police officer from Bhandup Police Station. (Image for representation)

The complainant – James Emmanuel, a resident of Bhandup West – has been working with an Australian finance company in Vikhroli as an IT engineer for the last two years.

“Emmanuel’s mother suffers from liver-related ailment and the doctors had advised her to get operated on as soon as possible. He required around ₹4 lakh for the treatment. At the time when the complainant was thinking of an additional source of income, he got a message from cyber frauds about part-time jobs. He was told that the job was related to cryptocurrency and that if he invested ₹2,000 he could get up to ₹5,000. They told him that they could make profits due to fluctuations in the cryptocurrency market and could share the profit with him,” said a police officer from Bhandup Police Station.

Emmanuel invested ₹7.70 lakhs in all on different occasions, said the officer, adding, “He, however, did not get any returns and when he questioned the frauds, they told him that the market was down and therefore he wouldn’t get returns immediately and asked him to continue investing more money.”

“He could see his investments on a link that the accused had given him. When he invested ₹500 it showed double the amount credited in his account soon thereafter. However, he later realised that the website had also stopped working and suspecting some foul play, approached us and we have registered a case,” said the police officer.

A case was registered against unknown accused under sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

“We have written to the banks and cell companies to get details about the bank accounts and SIM cards used in the commission of the crime to trace the accused,” said the police officer.

The police said the complainant was cheated in February and March and had thereafter lodged a complaint online on the Cyber portal but could not come to the police station as his mother was unwell.