MUMBAI: In separate cases, two software engineers from Vasai were duped of their money in a work-from-home (WFH) scam. Police say more victims may have been similarly duped and have appealed to them to come forward to register complaints.
The modus operandi was to target men and women looking for jobs online. The two victims, aged 19 and 32, were given data entry jobs. They ended up paying out of their own pockets, though, after being threatened with legal action for not doing their job well.
In the first case, the 32-year-old man took up a data entry job for a fictitious Gujaratbased company in August. After working for a week, he was informed that he had messed up his job and would have to pay a penalty to avoid legal hassles. The victim deposited around Rs 2 lakh to unknown bank accounts till he realized he had been conned.
In the other case, the Vasai teenager got a data operator job from a company. After working for three days, she was told her work was shoddy. The teen was then told to pay a penalty or face legal action. She deposited around Rs 17,000 in unknown bank accounts before realizing she was cheated.
Manickpur police in Vasai (West) have registered cases of cheating against the unknown persons. Police suspect the gang operates from New Delhi and Jharkhand.
Police have appealed to people caught in similar frauds to file their complaints.