Scammers lure another man to invest in gold trading and siphon off Rs. 22.96 lakh

Mysore/Mysuru: The online task scam or part-time job scam is spreading and many people in the city and nearby areas have reported losing money after falling for a part-time job offer, they received online.

The scammers are contacting people through various social media platforms and duping them of lakhs of rupees on the pretext of offering an extra source of income. The Police, who are trying to track down the accused, said that increasingly educated people are falling into the trap, despite awareness campaigns about such cyber frauds.

A person approaches the victim on social media or on instant messaging apps offering lucrative returns on money for a set of online tasks including subscribing to YouTube videos and the like.  Initially, fraudsters give back good returns luring the victim further and once they make a big investment, they turn incommunicado.

Engineer falls prey

In one such case reported from Vijayanagar Third Stage, Engineer P. Sanghvi received a text message on his WhatsApp offering a part-time job and provided a link for him to apply. An unsuspecting Sanghvi clicked on the link and contacted the person on the other end who told him to subscribe to various YouTube channels to boost the subscription numbers.

The 27-year-old Engineer was told that he will be paid Rs. 50 for each subscription. He was told to transfer an initial amount of Rs. 500 to an account number so that he would get more and more money with a small investment.

Trusting this pre-paid task, Sanghvi transferred Rs. 2,49,600 in stages and also subscribed to many YouTube videos. But the money from the other side was not forthcoming. Finally he realised that he has been duped and has approached the Police.

Message on WhatsApp

 In another similar case, Antony William, a resident of Rajivnagar Second Stage, got a message on his WhatsApp from one Rupali and the caller adopted the same modus operandi to cheat him. She suggested William to complete some pre-paid tasks to earn more returns and better results.

Falling for the words of scammers, the victim made several transfers until he realised he was being cheated when scammers asked for more money. Trusting the pre-paid task, Antony William had till now transferred 3.78 lakh in stages to the accounts of the fraudsters.

Gold trading con

The case of B.R. Pradeep, a resident of Parasayyanahundi, is a different one and he received a message on the Telegram app asking him to indulge in trading calls through M.T. Gold App. Promising high returns of interest as he was dealing with gold — the prices of which rise on a daily basis — Pradeep was asked to invest more and more.

Pradeep ended up investing Rs. 22.96 lakh as he was lured for higher income. All the three cases are being investigated by the city’s Cyber, Economic and Narcotics (CEN) Crime Police.

Modus operandi

According to the Police, scammers first ask the victim to pay a certain amount of money for the pre-paid jobs before assigning the victims the task of liking or subscribing to videos, posts and other messaging. Scammers then return a fairly good sum higher than that of what the victim has paid initially to gain the trust. Later, they convince the victim to pay a higher amount and expect a good return including the commission.

The fraudsters urge the victim to invest more and clear all his debts, including any pending ones. Once the victim pays the money, the scammers go incommunicado. The Police have asked the people to verify the company’s existence and details by researching it before applying for a job. They must protect personal and financial information and must not click any links from unknown numbers or addresses in text messages or e-mails.