Woman gets ‘YouTube likes’ job in Mumbai, duped of Rs 11.4 lakh; 5 companies directors held

MUMBAI: Police recently arrested five directors of six non-existent tech companies for cheating a 29-year-old woman by promising a job and later asking her to join their business group for fetching good returns.
They created her virtual wallet which showed she was earning money and later sent her a fake letter from Mumbai police, saying her account was blocked. They took money from her to get her account cleared. In two weeks, they cheated her of Rs 11. 4 lakh.
The accused were identified as Bindusar Shelar, 40, Mahesh Raut, 24, Yogesh Khaule, 28, all from Pune, and two from Amravati Akhsay Khadse, 27 and Amit Tawar, 28.
The complainant had uploaded her bio-data on two job portals. She received a WhatsApp message from a person asking if she was interested in the job of liking YouTube videos, taking its screenshot and sending it to the same WhatsApp number. The sender (accused) sent her a video link which she liked and followed the instructions. The accused deposited Rs 750 in her account.
The accused then askedthe woman to join them on a Telegram group. “They told the complainant that they had created her virtual wallet where she could check her profit. When she checked the virtual wallet, she found Rs 3 lakh in it. Later, she was lured into investing into their ‘business package’ and was asked to pay different fees. They sent her a fake letter of Mumbai police saying her wallet was frozen and that she will have to send money to get it cleared,” said an officer.
In two weeks, they took Rs 11. 43 lakh from her. When the complainant wanted to withdraw her investment and profit, the accused locked thewallet. She learnt she was duped and lodged an FIR.
“Based on bank account details, we arrested five accused. They had taken an office space in Pune on an annual rent of Rs 19,000. . . They became directors in these fake companies. They sent money to other accounts including a crypto wallet. We have written to the crypto wallet to freeze it,” said police.
A team led by crime branch chief Lakhmi Gautam, supervised by DCP Balsingh Rajput and comprising ACP Ramchandra Lotlikar, PIs Mohini Lokhande, Sameer Lonkar and PSI Prakash Gawli are probing the case.