Part-time job con: Cyber frauds dupe scientist of ₹9 lakh

The victim, a native of Andhra Pradesh, is affiliated with a Mulund-based company and was on the lookout for a new job, a police officer said, adding, “Around three years ago, he had posted his resume on a job portal website Naukri.com.”

Mumbai: Several unknown persons were booked for allegedly duping a 36-year-old scientist working with a reputed FMCG firm of ₹9 lakh on the pretext of earning extra money through a part-time job.

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The victim, a native of Andhra Pradesh, is affiliated with a Mulund-based company and was on the lookout for a new job, a police officer said, adding, “Around three years ago, he had posted his resume on a job portal website Naukri.com.”

According to the police, on May 26, 2022, the scientist received a WhatsApp message where the sender introduced himself as Ramesh. “The sender asked him whether he was interested in a part-time job, to which the victim responded positively. The accused then advised him to join the Telegram app and asked him for the mobile phone number, which the victim had shared with the accused.”

The officer added that when the victim joined the telegram app, he immediately received a message – ‘The task has been successfully applied’.

“The accused also sent a link – https://www.tmt779.in/user/recharge – to the victim asking him to fill in all his details on the link as well as pay ₹200 through UPI ID. Later, he found that ₹200 was deposited in his account,” the officer said.

During further processing, the accused asked the scientist to complete a few more tasks and pay money through UPI ID to complete his assignment, he said, adding, “The victim paid approximately ₹9 lakh in multiple transactions between May 2022 to February 2023. The accused duped him on the pretext of registration fees as well as asking him to complete the task online by transferring the amount online.”

Whenever the victim asked the accused how to recover his money, the accused gave him another task online, said the officer.

Eventually, the victim realised that he was duped and approached the Mulund police station and filed a complaint on June 16 under the charges of cheating, including the IT act against the accused.