Mumbai Crime: ‘Don’t go after easy money, you will lose what little you have’

Group to which this reporter was added while infiltrating the racket; (far left) message sent to a victim

After infiltrating a group of cyber criminals and exposing the inner workings of the dastardly like-and-earn scam, mid-day has interviewed hapless victims who have been defrauded of lakhs of rupees. While sharing their ordeal, they urged the public not to fall for offers that are too good to be true. According to victims, the cyber police are investigating the case, but due to the crooks' international links, recovering their money will be an uphill task.

‘Don't get duped like I did'

A 28-year-old working professional, who didn't wish to reveal her identity, said, "I am now certain that I am not going to get my hard-earned money back but I want to tell mid-day's readers that the fraudsters were so convincing, that I ended parting with R25 lakh. All my savings are gone. I had taken a loan of R20 lakh assuming that I would get back the R5 lakh I had invested. The deeper you go, the more money you end up losing."

She added that the cyber cell has been investigating her case for the past two months and have found that money was transferred to multiple accounts and the UPI ID which was given to her to transfer money is not functional. The crooks have been using multiple numbers but one UPI works only for 30 minutes. They transfer the money to various accounts and it is suspected the money is converted into cryptocurrency before it goes out of the country," she added.

A doctor recently filed a complaint at Malabar Hill police station after falling prey to scamsters. Representation pic

"While being scammed, I received only Rs 8,000 and I am still paying EMIs for the loan I took to invest in this ponzi scheme. I cannot even begin to explain the trauma I have been through and I just hope that one day I will get my money back," she added. She added that the Telegram group to which she was added is still functional and she is still receiving messages asking her to invest more money. "They are showing a balance of Rs 45 lakh in my account which they created on their website. They are asking me to invest more money to get back everything I had invested earlier."

Also read: Like ponzi schemes, victims refer more victims to fraudsters

Regret picking up call: victim

Another victim, who works for a multinational company, recently lodged a complaint with the MIDC police after losing Rs 10 lakh to the same scam. He urged the public to not entertain calls or messages from unknown numbers, particularly international ones. The fraudsters use internet or app-generated numbers and once they get a response, they share attractive work-from-home offers where one has to like some posts to earn money. "They build trust before duping victims of lakhs of rupees. I would have been okay had I not responded to their calls," he told mid-day.

He also shared that he has been following up with the police and that some UPI accounts to which he had transferred Rs 3.5 lakh have been blocked. He remains hopeful that he will recover his money and said that such frauds could be prevented if victims refuse to respond to easy-money offers. According to victims, despite the fact that complaints have been registered against them, fraudsters suspected to be operating from abroad, have no fear of law enforcement agencies.

"They have been approaching me even now and asking me to invest Rs 10 lakh to get Rs 30 lakh in one go. In fact, they show a balance of Rs 30 lakh in my account that they had opened on their website," a victim stated. A doctor recently filed a complaint at the Malabar Hill police station after falling prey to a similar fraud. "I was approached via an international number and asked if I was interested in a work-from-home opportunity. As soon as I showed interest, I was asked to like some images and was rewarded with Rs 180, which motivated me to engage further. But in the end, I only received a few thousand rupees and lost Rs 1.5 lakh," the doctor explained.

He also urged people to avoid messages and calls where individuals are asked to like pictures and write reviews in return for money. In February, an individual attached to an international bank lost Rs 10 lakh to scammers. He filed a complaint with the Mumbai cyber cell. In March, a person involved with digital marketing lost Rs 4.30 lakh after he agreed to take up a part-time job. The victim stated that he had received a call from an international WhatsApp number where a person identified herself as Sara Ali, an HR person for ‘Builder Globe Pvt Ltd'. "She told me that they were looking for someone to do digital media marketing part-time," the victim said in his statement.

Like the others, he was tasked with liking an image and got Rs 250. Then, he was added to a Telegram group and kept making payments. "I kept paying as I initially received a few thousand rupees, but later they kept delaying depositing my earnings, claiming that the server was not working. They kept asking me to make more payments. But I didn't get any money," he said.

Cops flummoxed

An officer attached to the Mumbai cyber cell said, "It takes a lot of effort to track down cyber criminals because we often do not know their location. And by the time we collect confidential information, they erase their footprints. Despite these challenges, some cases have been successfully detected, and our teams are actively working to combat scams."

Rs 25,00,000
Amount the 28-year-old victim was duped of

Rs 1,50,000
Amount doctor was duped of