Pune IT Professional Duped Out Of Rs 49 Lakh In WhatsApp Job Scam Involving YouTube

Online scams are becoming more prevalent on platforms like WhatsApp, YouTube, Facebook, and international calls, leading to financial losses for many individuals. Recently, an IT engineer from Pune fell victim to such fraudsters, losing a staggering Rs 49 lakh after being promised a 30 percent return on investment.

According to a report by Pune Mirror, the incident took place between March 28 and April 28. The complaint was registered two months later. Snehasingh Hridaynarayan Singh (35), a resident of Hinjewad, filed a complaint at the Hinjewad police station. Accordingly, a case has been filed against Adhuri Ganguly.

An IT engineer from Hinjewad fell victim to scammers who approached him with a job offer that simply involved liking YouTube videos. The police revealed that the victim received an attractive job offer message on WhatsApp promising him extra income by liking YouTube videos.

Initially, the woman, who is an IT engineer, received Rs 150 and Rs 350 by completing the tasks set by the scammer. When the victim began to trust the scammer, the scam took a big turn and the woman was asked to invest money in additional tasks.

The fraudster had promised the victim a 30 percent return on the invested amount. The victim then invested a total of Rs 49,000, hoping to get a 30% return, but that did not happen as the fraudster never returned any amount. Later, the accused denied giving any refund of the deposited capital and looted Rs 49 lakhs from the complainant.

A case has been registered under sections 419, 420 and 406 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 33 (c) and 66 (d) of the IT Act. The Hinjewad police continued to investigate the incident.

Similarly, a resident of Gurugram lost Rs 70,000 when he fell victim to a work-from-home scam that promised him good returns in the form of commissions. According to a report by The Indian Express, a resident of Gurugram received a WhatsApp message offering him the opportunity to like videos and rate hotels.