Thiruvananthapuram: Data gathered by the police revealed 300 persons lost Rs 4 crore to scamsters offering ‘work from home’ and ‘business at home’ opportunities over the last month in Kerala.
Police officers said these figures were based on complaints filed. “Cases which not reported could be higher,” they added.
According to the Kerala police, the money lost from the state was withdrawn from states such as Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Bengal. In a curious aspect of the fraud, a majority of the victims were women and homemakers. Some of the complaints registered with the police in cities such as Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode involved swindling amounting to Rs 40 lakh.
Police officers also noted that Kerala tops the list of states where this kind of fraud was reported often. As per police data, online racketeers cheat residents of Kerala of around Rs 10 crore every month.
Modus operandi of ‘work-from-home’ racketeers
The potential victim receives a message on WhatsApp or Facebook offering work which could be done from home. When a positive response is given, links of two business videos will be sent. When the victim watches both, rewards of Rs 1,000 for each video will be credited to the victim’s bank account.
Next, the victim will receive 10 new videos. However, the payment will be only in points. Soon, other tasks will be sent to the victim. On accumulating one lakh points, the victims will be asked to deposit Rs 50,000 to receive Rs 1 lakh. When the victim pays Rs 50,000 to the scamsters, an additional Rs 10,000 would be demanded as tax.
Business fraud too
Another scam involves the fake promise of the resale of products of major brands at big profits. The first step is the sale of an item such as shoes, TV or laptop to the victim at a cheap price. For instance, a pair of shoes worth Rs 8,000 would be sold to the victim for Rs 2,000 through a Telegram account. Within a few days, a buyer would contact the victim and buy the shoes for Rs 6,000. Next, the victim would be able to purchase a laptop worth Rs 40,000 for less than Rs 10,000. Soon, a ‘buyer’, would approach the victim and take the laptop for Rs 30,000, crediting the amount to the latter’s account.
After gaining the confidence of the victim through such transactions, the racketeers would offer an opportunity for the former to buy products worth around Rs 4-5 lakh. However, as soon as the money is transferred by the victim, the social media group would disappear.
A homemaker in Kozhikode recently lost Rs 4 lakh in this manner. The Kerala Police later found that her money was withdrawn from an ATM near Howrah railway station in Kolkata.
Call helpline number 1930
If you think you are being cheated, immediately call the number 1930. Banks would be able to freeze up to the first three transactions. The entire amount could be recovered if you call this number before the money lost is transferred to another account or withdrawn from an ATM.
