A woman from Noida allegedly fell into a trap of cybercriminals, where she was duped of Rs 13 lakh after accepting a “work-from-home job offer” to watch, like and subscribe to YouTube videos, according to reports on Friday.
The scammers used WhatsApp and a Telegram handle to communicate with Kartika, a resident of the Panchsheel Hynish Society of Greater Noida, offering Rs 50 to Rs 5,000 per day for watching, liking, and subscribing to YouTube videos, according to a Indian Express report.
They initially credited her account with Rs 150 for specific tasks. As her involvement deepened, she invested in Nasdaq. “They asked me to invest Rs 2,000 in Nasdaq and returned Rs 3,150 to me on the same day as profit,” she said.
The cybercriminals gave Kartika three mandatory tasks and she sent them Rs 5,000, Rs 30,000, and Rs 90,000 in turns. However, she didn’t receive her money back and the scammers accused her of doing the third task wrong. They then assigned her two new transactions, and after each one, they claimed it would be the last. The woman then sent them Rs 2,18,400 and Rs 3,81,200.
Running short on funds and feeling scared, Kartika continued in the hope of getting her money back. She bought some time and applied for a personal loan in her husband’s name. After paying Rs 2.50 lakh as a final transaction, she demanded her money back.
However, the fraudsters then insisted she needed to invest more to clear the Rs 15 lakh threshold for payment.
The couple took another personal loan when the scammers demanded Rs 3,37,600 to complete the threshold. After paying the amount, the fraudsters asked for Rs 5,20,000 as a tax amount. That’s when the couple realised they had been duped and lodged a complaint with the police.
They also attempted to withdraw money from Nasdaq, but nothing happened, according to the woman’s complaint.
The police have registered a case of cheating and section 66D of the Information Technology (Amendments) Act, 2008, against unknown persons.
‘Youtube Likes’ Fraud
The incident is the latest in the series of frauds targeting people seeking profitable income from liking and subscribing to videos on YouTube. In May, a software engineer in an IT company in Gurugram Sector 102 ended up losing Rs 42 lakh in the scam.
The victim was added to a Telegram group and was persuaded to invest for guaranteed returns. Falling for their promise, he transferred Rs 42,31,600 from his and his wife’s bank accounts. Initially, he was assured of earning Rs 69 lakh in profit. But when he tried to withdraw the money, the fraudsters demanded an additional Rs 11,000. Realising he had been conned, he filed a complaint against the fraudsters.
In another case in May, a woman from Noida’s Sector 61 was approached by scammers on WhatsApp. They offered her a ‘part-time job’ where she had to like, comment and share YouTube videos of various e-commerce websites. After connecting her to a Telegram group, they assigned tasks and initially paid her some money to gain her trust.
However, they later gave her a ‘prime task,’ leading to a loss of Rs 4.38 lakh. A case against the cyber fraud was registered at Sector 58 Noida police station.
(With inputs from agencies)
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