MUMBAI: The Saki Naka police on Saturday arrested six persons for allegedly duping an account manager of Rs 32,000 in a part-time job scam. The arrests were made following a month-long investigation. After scanning 14 cellphones, 12 bank accounts and nine SIM cards, police found that the six arrested accused from Palghar were part of an online fraud operated by a mastermind based in
Dubai, who in turn runs a bigger racket from China.
The arrested accused have been identified as Pradip Rajbhar (23), Shivam Singh (22), Nikhil Singh (24), Prithviraj Chavan (23), Sandip Yadav (24), and Vishwas Chaurasiya (22).
“The accused would contact the victim over WhatsApp offering a part-time job that involves completing certain tasks and getting paid for them.
The assigned tasks include liking YouTube videos, rating them, or giving reviews for a small commission,” said an officer of the Saki Naka police station. The accused duped Andheri resident N H Memon (27), account manager of a private firm in Saki Naka, of Rs32,000 on August 1 after luring her into earning money by completing tasks. She received a message about a part-time job. In the complaint, Memon said: “I was given three Google tasks. On completion of each task, I was paid Rs 50 which was credited to my account. However, I was asked to invest money to earn a bigger amount, and eventually I ended up paying Rs 32,000.”
Based on the complaint, DCP D Nalawade supervised a team of Saki Naka police senior inspector Gabaji Chimte, inspector Sambhaji Sable, sub-inspector Sunil Chavan, and staff, who tracked the WhatsApp number from which the accused had called Memon. Thereafter, all six were traced to Nalasopara and Virar. They said that they took instructions from the “mastermind” in Dubai.
Cyber expert Ritesh Bhatia said: “Fraudsters offer victims Rs 150-200 for completing a task.
This initial success serves to build trust, leading the victims to be added to a Telegram group, facilitated by a receptionist.
Within this group, their confidence is bolstered as they earn Rs 500-600 in just an hour. Convinced, the victims begin to invest, anticipating returns but end up getting trapped.” As per city police crime report, 253 job fraud cases have been filed in first seven months of 2023.