Scam
Many people look for work-from-home jobs to earn extra income, but scammers are taking advantage of this trend. A 37-year-old man from Karol Bagh, Delhi, fell victim to a work-from-home scam and lost nearly Rs 11 lakh. The fraudsters tricked him into investing in a fake trading app. Keep reading to know how the scam unfolded and how you can avoid falling for such scams.
It all started when the complainant received a WhatsApp message on January 20, offering easy work-from-home tasks to earn money. The sender instructed him to add a product to his cart and send a screenshot. After completing this simple task, he was added to a social media group where he was given a special code to send to an ID which had a woman’s username. She helped him get his first settlement of Rs 150. She then added him to another group and encouraged him to complete more tasks for money.
At first, the tasks were simple, and he received payments. But soon, he was introduced to “prepaid tasks,” where he had to pay an amount first and then receive a refund with a 30 percent commission, reports TOI.
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Believing this was a genuine opportunity, he initially paid Rs 1,000 and later received his money back with profit. The scammers gained his trust, and he started investing larger amounts.
As time passed, the scammers kept demanding more money. One day, when the victim asked to withdraw his money, the fraudsters refused. They pressured him to complete one last task, which required him to pay Rs 2 lakh. Even after making this payment, they continued asking for more money. In the end, he realised he had been scammed out of Rs 11 lakh.
After realising the fraud, the victim filed a police complaint.
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