Beware of Online Job Scams in Mumbai: ‘Work-from-Home’ or ‘Money-for-Task’, Don’t Fall for the Trap!

Online job scams called ‘work from home’ or ‘pay for work’ are on the rise in Mumbai. As people look for extra income amid high inflation, it has become easier for scammers to lure people into so-called part-time or full-time jobs in the form of simple tasks like creating content or even liking YouTube videos.

According to a report published in the Times of India, Mumbai’s cyber crime report shows that such scams have multiplied by 362 cases in the first 10 months of 2023. This number was 119 and 106 in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

The report found that the police have managed to solve only 51 of these 362 cases this year. The problem also lies in the fact that the detection rate of this category of cybercrime – it was 10.9 percent in 2021, which decreased to 5.7 percent in 2022. The report further stated that between 2021 and 2023, there have been a total of 170 accused, including 99 this year.

According to police, the most common way job scams work is to offer the victim a sum of money per task and then persuade them to invest in the company by promising them they will earn more. According to them, people are typically contacted via e-mail or communication platforms such as WhatsApp or Telegram, promising to earn money for the task.

According to the police, people are mostly offered a home work option and flexible working hours. They added that such jobs require little or no experience to start, while scammers can also access applications or personal details on job portals.

According to experts, these are complex scams, the purpose of which is first to earn trust by giving small profits and later by demanding a substantial investment. Scammers mostly stop all contact once the victim comes through and pays a large fee, they said.

The scammers do not stop at asking for money but also ask the victims to reveal sensitive personal information like Aadhar and PAN details, police said. The only way to protect yourself from such scams is to not pay attention to such small job offers online or in messages and phone calls, they added.

According to a ToI report, in September, MIDC police arrested six persons from Palghar district in a full-time or part-time fraud in which a 27-year-old account manager was duped of Rs 32,000. They recovered at least 14 mobile phones, nine SIM cards and details of 12 bank accounts, revealing that the accused were part of an online racket from Dubai.

In July, a 19-year-old BCom final year student lost Rs 2.7 lakh to an online fraud after receiving a message on his WhatsApp number saying, “I am from HR in a media company. You can earn Rs 3000-30000 a day. Police said he was first asked to complete a simple task of getting photo for which he was paid 150 rubles.

“The victim is initially given simple tasks such as liking, rating or giving reviews on YouTube videos for a small commission. Next, the fraudster encourages the victim to do bigger tasks and invest to get higher returns,” a senior IPS official told ToI.