Tarun Karthick
Port Blair, 24 April 2024
A resident of Prem Nagar, Port Blair, has filed a complaint with the Cyber Crime Police station regarding an online financial scam. The victim lodged a formal complaint detailing her ordeal, seeking legal action against the perpetrators.
The victim narrated the sequence of events that led to her victimisation. On April 9, 2024, at approximately 9:30 a.m., while browsing Facebook at her residence, she encountered an advertisement offering work-from-home opportunities. Intrigued, she contacted the provided phone number via WhatsApp, where an individual purportedly a recruiter from a media agency, engaged her.
Under the guise of work opportunities, the victim was persuaded to share her personal bank details. Subsequently, she was instructed to install the Telegram app and provided with a video link via WhatsApp, with instructions to send a screenshot after viewing the content. Following these tasks, a sum of Rs. 300 was credited to her account.
The situation escalated on April 10, 2024, when the fraudster urged the victim to invest more for increased profits. Initially, she transferred Rs. 1000 and received Rs. 1300 as cashback to her DBS savings account. Encouraged by apparent returns, the victim made further transfers of Rs. 1000, Rs. 2000, and subsequently received Rs. 3900 as cashback profits. Moreover, she completed tasks and received an additional Rs. 900.
The victim then transferred Rs. 3000/-, 12000/-, 50000/- through UPI, however she did not receive any cashback profit, the situation took a grim turn when she was asked to transfer Rs. 80000 to resolve an alleged error and unfreeze her account. Believing the request to be genuine, the victim transferred Rs. 15000 through UPI and Rs. 65000 through IMPS, totalling Rs. 1,49,000 (reported by victim in formal police complaint), in anticipation of commissions.
Realizing she had been deceived, as no commission was forthcoming and more tasks were demanded, she sought recourse by filing a formal complaint via the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal.