A software engineer working at an IT company in Gurgaon was recently scammed out of approximately Rs 42 lakh, according to the police. The engineer fell victim to a deception where scammers lured him with the promise of earning a significant amount of money by simply liking specific videos.
The incident was reported by a resident of Sector 102 and it began when he received a message on WhatsApp on March 24. The message stated that he could make additional income by participating in a part-time job that involved liking videos on YouTube.
Initially, the engineer invested the money as instructed but when he tried to withdraw it later, the scammers denied him access to the funds. The complainant explained, “When I agreed to work with them, a woman named Divya added me to a group on the Telegram app. She asked me to invest money with the assurance of high returns. Under the guise of a task, they instructed me to invest, and I transferred a total of Rs 42,31,600 from my and my wife’s bank accounts.”
The complainant further stated, “Apart from Divya, other individuals named Kamal, Ankit, Bhoomi, and Harsh confirmed the transaction and soon after, informed me that I had earned over Rs 69 lakh in profit. However, they did not allow me to withdraw the money. They then asked me to transfer an additional Rs 11,000, which raised suspicions for me, and I decided to report the matter to the police.”
On Friday, an FIR was filed against unknown fraudsters under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology (IT) Act at the cybercrime police station in the west. A senior police officer mentioned that they have requested bank details and an investigation is currently underway.
