Online task frauds: Wagholi, Khadak residents duped of Rs 16 lakh

PUNE: A 45-year-old mechanical engineer from Wagholi and a 30-year-old software developer from Khadak became to the latest victims of online task frauds as they collectively lost Rs 16.2 lakh to cybercrooks.
“The man from Wagholi first received a text on April 13 offering good earnings for performing online tasks and was told to join a group on a social messenger app,” said senior inspector Gajanan Pawar from Lonikand police on Tuesday.
The fraudsters told the man they would pay Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 per day for writing reviews and rating movies online. “They once paid him Rs 2,000. Later, they asked him to invest in pre-paid tasks with a promise of good returns. By April 17, the man ended up transferring Rs 8.55 lakh in nine instalments to four bank accounts in Delhi. He grew suspicious when the crooks kept asking for more money and failed to pay him the promised returns,” Pawar said. “The fraudsters blocked his email ID, phone number and removed him from the social networking site group. He then approached police.”
In the Khadak case, a software developer lost Rs 7.6 lakh in a similar way between April 20 and 25.
Senior inspector Sangeeta Yadav on Tuesday said: “The fraudsters sent the woman a text for a work from home job to review eateries. They added her to a group on a social messenger app for communication. They initially took Rs 2,000 from the woman and later refunded it with a commission of Rs 900 commission.”
“The fraudsters got the woman to invest Rs 7.63 lakh claiming it would be refunded at a later stage with higher commission in the form of Bitcoins,” Yadav added. “The woman transferred the money via netbanking in six instalments. She realised she was being tricked when the crooks kept asking her for more money without any returns. They stopped communicating with her after she asked for a refund. We have written to the banks to provide details of the money transactions done,” she said.