Mumbai Cyber Safe: 4, including minor, held for YouTube job scam, 17-year-old mastermind of con; siphoned of ₹ 4.32 lakh

Mumbai: The cyber team of Chunabhatti police has arrested three people while detaining a minor — all from Ajmer, Rajasthan — for allegedly defrauding people by offering them the part-time job of liking videos on YouTube.

While the number of gullible victims is yet to be determined, the team has found 24 bank accounts created by the accused, which have more than Rs 97 lakhs — earned by them by defrauding people across the country.

According to police, the minor accused, a 17-year-old boy, is the mastermind behind this scam. He is currently in Dongri Children's Home.

58-year-old woman was duped of Rs 4.32 lakhs by the scammers

The matter surfaced on March 19 when a 58-year-old woman named Mahalakshmi Ramaswami Iyer, a resident of Suman Nagar in Chembur, approached the Chunabhatti police alleging that she was defrauded by unknown people to the tune of Rs 4.32 lakhs in the name of a ‘video liking job’.

In her complaint to the police, Iyer said she had received a message on WhatsApp from a company named Global Advert Corporation Official saying that they have a job offer for her. “I was told it's a part-time job and I will be given certain tasks for which I will be paid. I was then told to join a Telegram group and was also provided a YouTube link. I had to open the YouTube channel and like the videos,” she said in her statement.

At first, at the end of the “tasks” assigned to Iyer, she was paid Rs 150, and slowly it graduated to 1,300 and then Rs 7,500. Then, she was told that she will be assigned a “bigger task” which will yield a sum of Rs 12,000, Rs. 25,000 and Rs 50,000. However, by taking money from her in the name of procedural formalities, they scammed her over the period and duped her of Rs 4,32,100. When she asked for the amount to be paid back, they refused and eventually disappeared, after which Iyer approached the police.

The police lodged a case against unknown person and initiated an investigation. While tracking the available mobile numbers which the complainant had contacted and the bank account to which she frequently transferred money, they realised it's not just one person's work. They found multiple people's names, with various registered addresses from several current bank accounts - these people were involved in the crime.

Prashant Soni was held initially followed by 3 of his brothers

The first name to pop up was Prashant Soni alias Vinay Kothari. There on, the investigation picked up pace by tracking Prashant Soni by obtaining his call data record (CDR) and Internet Protocol Details Record (IPDR).

Soni, who was arrested from Mira-Bhayander, turned to be a 17-year-old boy. He was working along with his brothers in the whole scam.

His brothers are identified as Piyush Soni (35), Arjun Soni (29), and Rajkumar Soni (32). During the raid at their residence in Mira-Bhayander, police found 70 mobile numbers, 43 ATM Cards, 25 cheque books, 32 SIM cards and 22 mobile phones which were used in the crime.

While Prashant has been remanded to Dongri Children's Home till May 5, the other brothers are remanded to police custody till April 26.