Mumbai: A 59-year-old insurance agent lost ₹10.8 lakh in a week after falling prey to like-a-video-and-earn prepaid task fraud. In her complaint lodged on Sunday, the Ambernath resident said that she got in touch with the scammers after coming across a Telegram account, advertising easy earning opportunities from the comfort of home.
Initially, the cyber crooks gave the 'task' of liking YouTube videos and they even paid around ₹1,600, said the woman. Further, they asked her to pay a bigger amount for more earnings. Without thinking twice, the complainant transferred ₹10.8 lakh in different accounts in 19 transactions between March 29 and April 4.
She finally sensed the scam after the cons asked her to pay more for withdrawing her earnings. Later, they also stopped responding to her. A case has been filed against the unknown fraudsters under section 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act. The complainant has also provided the mobile numbers used by the scammers, links shared by them and the beneficiary account details to the police.
Owing to the rising menace of task-based frauds, the state cyber department last year issued an advisory for the citizens. Cautioning the public of cross-checking the credentials of an unknown person offering quick earning opportunities, the advisory read, “The scammers ask the target to watch YouTube videos and get paid. The citizens are requested to avoid such calls and block them. If someone is giving you money in return for easy tasks it's a scam for sure.”
