A 26-year-old graphic designer was duped by cyber fraudsters to the tune of Rs2.75 lakh who assured her to double her investment returns via cryptocurrency.
Aditi Sahani, a resident of Shivaji Park, Dadar, received a message on her WhatsApp on December 24, which said about a part-time job offer where after every assignment, one would be paid between Rs1,000-5,000. She was then suggested to download the Telegram app.
Victim added to WhatsApp
In her statement to the Shivaji Park police, Sahani said that she was welcomed by a profile named ‘Aurora’ who explained the job and asked her to provide her details. They sent her Rs 178, as the first pay. The complainant was then added to a group ‘Formal Employee Group’ on which a link was sent addressing her and her task was to click the link, take a screenshot and send it back to them.
They then asked her to invest money in cryptocurrency and assured her of double returns. Yet another link was sent to her which opened a website which said “token exchange”, she was asked to transfer money on it, and she did Rs 55,000.
Planned to withdraw profit but failed
Two days later, she was given another task, that she fulfilled. They asked her to invest more on token exchange, she paid Rs 1,20,000 and the total “profit” on the website suggested up to Rs 3,20,000. Her projected score kept increasing, and she made yet another transaction of Rs 1 lakh. Now the total profit, the website said, was up to Rs 4,48,000.
The complainant planned to withdraw her gained profit and she tried it via the same website, but it failed. She inquired about it with the person she was talking to on Telegram who suggested she fill out a form, which she did but failed. The woman then realised it was all bogus and immediately registered an online complaint with the National Cyber Crime portal and later a formal complaint was registered.
FPJ Cyber Secure | FPJ
