More than 10 youths lost money after falling prey to cyber fraudsters who lured them through Telegram messaging platform offering part-time jobs and collecting huge amounts of money.
Explaining the modus operandi, a senior police officer of the Central Crime Branch in Tambaram said that cyber fraudsters send messages with links to youth using cellphones on Telegram offering them part-time jobs and earn money by watching YouTube videos, writing reviews for movies or giving ratings to hotels.
The fraudsters promise to pay ₹50 to ₹100. They then add the person to Telegram groups where they provide instructions and links for the tasks. They send small amounts of money to the candidate’s accounts, to earn their trust, the officer said. Then the fraudsters would add the candidates to “prepaid task” group in Telegram. The candidates are assigned 20 tasks. Once the candidates start doing the tasks, they are told to deposit money to continue the tasks with a promise of handsome returns if they complete the tasks. The candidate will not be able to withdraw the amount, the police officer said.
“The fraudsters collect ₹1,000 on their first task and ₹1 crore on the 10th task from the candidates. Later, the administrator of the group removes the candidates from the group and becomes incommunicado. One of the candidates lost ₹35 lakh in the fraud. We are investigating more than 10 complaints in our jurisdiction,” he said.
Tambaram police said people should be vigilant. People should be wary if they receive any unsolicited messages on platforms such as Telegram or WhatsApp groups, they caution.
