- By Vikas Yadav
- Sun, 04 Jun 2023 09:44 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
LIKE video and earn money scams are spreading like wildfire in India. The latest case involves a 30-year-old engineer from Pune who lost Rs 15.9 lakh during the initial weeks of May in exchange for a well-paying work-from-home opportunity, according to The Times of India.
The victim is an employee in a reputed software firm, a police official told the media outlet. It all started taking shape when he received the first message on May 4 with a part-time job offer. Once he agreed to work in the role, a task to like videos which was a paid assignment was given to him.
Later on, the techie was asked to invest money in "prepaid tasks" to earn handsome cash in return. While the engineer transferred small sums initially, once he received the commission, he invested a "big" amount that led to this outcome.
Upon requests to withdraw the monetary amount, the scammers asked him to deposit more money to get the amount back. As a result, the software geek released Rs 15.9 lakh into different UPI IDs from his bank account.
Seeing the endless money demands, he finally realised the trap and reached out to Pimpri Chinchwad's cyber crime cell. A case was filed after an initial inquiry with Sangvi police.
Like Video And Get Paid Fraud: How To Be Safe?
While these scams are rising exponentially in India, here are a few steps you can take to stay safe:
- Do not respond to attractive part-time opportunities
- Do involve in money transfers, whatsoever the case
- Block the contact and report the matter to the social media app
Part-Time Job-Based Scam: Where To File A Complaint?
If you fall for these or other online scams, you can report the matter on cybercrime.gov.in or call 1930.
YouTube Like And Subscribe Scam: Similar Cases
Recently, three engineers and one student were scammed of Rs 36 lakh combined in a similar scam. In another case, a Gurgaon man lost Rs 42 lakh in a similar scam. In a third instance, a woman lost over Rs 4 lakh in the 'like and earn' fraud.
