Man in Thane Duped Out of Rs 37 Lakh After Falling Victim to Instagram Scam – Here’s How It Happened

A resident of Thane has been defrauded of a staggering amount of Rs 37 lakh after becoming a target of a well-known employment scam. The 32-year-old individual was actively seeking a new job due to the imminent conclusion of his current job’s contract.

According to a report in The Times of India, the man was lured into the trap of a “part-time job” where he had to like Instagram photos of celebrities.

After uploading his bio on two online recruitment portals, the man received a call from an unknown number on WhatsApp offering him a part-time role. The scammer promised the victim that he could earn Rs 70 for liking pictures of active celebrities – potentially around Rs 2,000-3,000 per day.

The man was asked to provide screenshots as proof of his work and was paid 210 rupees for his likes.

The victim was later added to the Crypto group on Telegram, a chat app similar to WhatsApp. In this group, he received tasks from scammers and was asked to deposit money to buy cryptocurrency.

According to The Times of India, the man deposited Rs 9,000 but received Rs 9,980, leading him to believe that the Telegram job opportunity was legitimate. Now he wanted to invest more money hoping to get bigger profits. He paid Rs 30,000 and got a profit of Rs 8,208, after which he got VIP account status, which allowed him to deposit larger investment amounts.

However, the scammers’ true intentions became clear when they demanded more money from him to get his winnings. In the end, the victim ended up paying the scammers a total of around 37,000 rupees in Indian currency, but got nothing in return.

Finally, the man realized that he had fallen for a scam, he turned to the police, and an official case has been filed to investigate the incident.

These types of job scams are becoming more common. Scammers often approach unsuspecting victims by offering them part-time job opportunities that require simple tasks like liking YouTube videos or, in the case above, liking Instagram photos. If you receive such an offer, do not respond, block the sender and report him.