Hyderabad woman loses Rs 3.18 lakh in Telegram task scam
HYDERABAD: A 24-year-old woman who works as a trainer at a multinational company (MNC) was defrauded of over Rs 3.18 lakh in an elaborate online task-based scam, police said.
The victim, who lives in DLF, Hyderabad, said she got a Telegram message from “Arohii English Language.” The message offered her a way to earn money by doing simple tasks like opening links and sharing screenshots. The scammers told her that up to 20 tasks would be given each day, and she would get paid for each one she finished.
She was told to contact the group admin on Telegram and join a group where tasks were shared with Google links. After each task, she had to send screenshots and give her bank account details for payment. After she finished four tasks, she was asked to sign up on a fake website. There was no fee to register.
Small payments lead to demands for lakhs
The scammers then asked her to pay money in advance for each new task. At first, she sent small amounts and got some money back, which made her trust them. But soon, they asked for much larger amounts: Rs 2,150, Rs 5,710, Rs 26,500, Rs 58,600, Rs 98,106, and Rs 124,489. When she asked about her withdrawals, the scammers said she had made mistakes and needed to pay more to fix them. They insisted she had to pay to get her money back.
Later, the woman found out that a fake mobile app had been made to trick people into investing money. She had sent a total of Rs 3,24,818 to the scammers’ bank accounts and UPI IDs. She only got Rs 6,024 back. The app showed a fake profit of Rs 45,000, but she was then asked to pay another Rs 2,38,500 to withdraw that money.
Cyberabad Cyber Crime Police have registered a case and are investigating. The public has been warned to be very careful when responding to work-from-home or task-based earning offers online. People should always check if a company is real before sending any money.
