Pune man duped of Rs 12 lakh by crooks who promised Rs 50 per review

PUNE: A 47-year-old resident from Kalyaninagar lost Rs 12 lakh to cybercrooks in an online task fraud between March 12 and 16.
An officer from the Yerawada police said the complainant is working with a private company.
On March 12, he received a call from an unknown person who told him about a part-time job that he could do by sitting at home. “The caller told the victim to complete a few tasks of posting reviews on a website and promised Rs 50 per review,” the officer said.
The caller then took the complainant’s bank details and told him to install a mobile messenger app and join a group through a link. “According to the complainant, between March 12 and March 15, he completed a total of 12 tasks and moneywas transferred to his bank account,” the officer said.
The caller contacted him again and told him that the next few tasks would be prepaid and he would earn 40% commission on each investment. He was told that they would invest the money in cryptocurrency. “On March 16, the complainant transferred Rs 12 lakh to four different bank accounts through 12 transactions,” the officer said.
He said that according to the complainant, the caller had sent him a screenshot of the latter’s profile, which was showing that he had earned Rs 19 lakh through his investments. “When the complainant tried to withdraw the amount, he was told to deposit Rs 3 lakh more. He became suspicious,” the officer said.
After realizing that he was duped, the victim filed a complaint application with the Yerawada police. The police registered a case on Thursday after preliminary investigation.
Online scams have become more and more common in the city in the last few months. Recurring frauds in which citizens have been cheated of lakhs of rupees has become a major irritant to the police. Besides registering complaints, investigators have not been able to do much to crack any of these cases.