A resident of Greater Noida reportedly lost ₹20.54 lakh in a cyber fraud scam.
The victim was scammed by a text message offering a work-from-home job that involved rating hotels on Google Maps.
Alongside the financial loss, he claimed he has been receiving "death threats" from the fraudsters.
In a shocking turn of events, a man has reportedly fallen victim to a fake hotel rating scam, losing about ₹20 lakh in the process. This incident sheds light on the growing menace of online fraud, where cybercriminals exploit unsuspecting individuals through elaborate schemes.
Read along to know what happened.
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A resident of Greater Noida reportedly lost ₹20.54 lakh in a cyber fraud scam. The victim was scammed by a text message offering a work-from-home job that involved rating hotels on Google Maps in exchange for monetary rewards, reports PTI (via NDTV).
Also read: New Phishing Scam is here! Targeting Facebook Business accounts
The police said that an FIR has been registered against an unidentified individual, and an investigation has been launched. The incident occurred in January this year but was only reported to the authorities this week.
In his complaint to the police, Sandeep Kumar, a resident of the Chi-1 sector in Greater Noida, stated, “I received the text on his WhatsApp number that I can do a work-from-home job in which I need to rate hotels on Google Maps and I will receive money in return as rewards.”
He was subsequently added to a Telegram group with around 100 members, where he began performing the rating tasks. According to the FIR, these tasks soon expanded to include investment activities.
“I started rating the hotels etc. With these tasks, there were some investment tasks too where I invested ₹ 50,000 first, but I couldn’t withdraw the money from the website,” Kumar said. He added that when he tried to withdraw his money, he was requested to pay an additional ₹5 lakh as taxes.
Kumar discovered he had been defrauded and could no longer access the ₹20,54,464 he had invested.
Alongside the financial loss, Kumar claimed he has been receiving “death threats” from the fraudsters through Telegram and phone calls.
According to a police official, an FIR was filed at the Cyber Crime police station in Noida Sector 36, and the matter is currently under investigation.
“The FIR has been registered under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating), 506 (criminal intimidation), and provisions of the Information Technology Act,” the police official said.
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Ayushi Jain
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