As per the complaint, On November 28, the woman saw an advertisement on Facebook named “Yang-101304” for earning quick money online. (Representative Image) A cyber fraudster has allegedly impersonated as project manager of an Indian multinational corporation and duped a 40-year-old woman of Rs 7.76 lakh by making her invest in a scheme to promote their company, promising hefty returns.
An FIR was registered on December 5 at the Navghar police station in Mira-Bhayandar, Vasai-Virar. The complainant told police that she works in an entertainment company and her husband works in a hotel.
As per the complaint, On November 28, the woman saw an advertisement on Facebook named “Yang-101304” for earning quick money online. On clicking, she received a chat message from Yang 101304 on Facebook messenger. In the message, the fraudster impersonated as project manager of Wipro and said they had started a project for the company’s promotion.
“I was told I will get a profit of 20-40 per cent on my investments and was asked to click a WhatsApp link given to me. As he used the name Wipro, I trusted him. The fraudster asked me for my personal details and then asked to visit the company’s online shop to complete the project,” the woman told the police.
The woman was then allegedly asked to visit a fraudulent website where she was made to register her personal details and open an account. She was then asked to invest Rs 300 in an online shop and received Rs 30 as a bonus in an e-wallet assigned to her. For further tasks, she was asked to download Telegram, a messaging platform, said the police.
The fraudster, through Telegram, made her invest a few hundred rupees first and later a few thousand rupees, said the police. Each time she made the investment, she received a bonus of a few hundred rupees on her investment that built her trust, added the police.
The fraudster then told her that she would have to complete a five-level task and for each task, she would have to make an investment and at the end of all, she would get the entire money with interest. To complete this task, she paid a total of Rs 2.29 lakh, said the police.
But the fraudster said the task was incomplete and made her pay another Rs 1.55 lakh, said the police. The woman then started asking for her money back but the fraudster told her she would have to pay GST to get the money. When she paid it, the fraudster told her that there was a delay in completing the task and asked for more money, said the police.
The woman ended up paying a total of Rs 7.76 lakh thinking she would be getting hefty interest, said the police. But when the fraudster asked for another Rs 2 lakh as membership fees, she realised that she was being cheated, added the police.
When she refused to pay any more money, the fraudster cut all communication with her and she approached the police.
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