Pune man duped of Rs 21 lakh in online film review fraud

PUNE: A 42-year-old employee of a private company was allegedly defrauded of Rs 21.3 lakh between December last year and April by scamsters in an online task fraud.
The victim filed a complaint with the cyber police, which registered a case at the Faraskhana station on Saturday after verification.
The man told TOI that he had received a message regarding a part-time job on an app on his mobile phone. "I was told I would earn good money while sitting at home and I needed to complete 30 tasks," he said.
According to the victim, he was assigned a task of reviewing Hollywood movies. "Following this, the crooks transferred some amount to me," he said. The fraudsters then told the victim he would earn a handsome commission if he completed pre-paid tasks. "After paying almost Rs 10 lakh, the profile showed that I had earned good profit," he said.
When the victim tried to withdraw the money, he could not. The scammers told him his profit was very high and asked him to pay a security deposit of Rs 5 lakh to withdraw the money. They did not stop their demand of money. "I became suspicious and approached the police," he said.