Vegetable Seller Uses Online Fraud to Swindle Rs 21 Crore Through Bogus Employment Opportunities
Can you imagine a greengrocer swindling people out of their hard earned money using elaborate online schemes? Well, that’s exactly what happened when a former vegetable vendor turned nasty – claiming nearly Rs 21 crore by duping people on the pretext of offering domestic jobs.
According to The Times of India, Rishab, a 27-year-old resident of Gurugram’s Sector 9, was actively involved in more than 37 cases across 10 Indian states and was involved in 855 scams. He was arrested last week based on intelligence gathered from a bank account through which he received money.
The accused was allegedly a vegetable seller in Faridabad. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic affected his income, he closed the business and took various jobs to support his household. According to Uttarakhand police officer Ankush Mishra, the man “met an old friend who was already involved in organizing online fraud. In just six months since he started committing fraud, he netted Rs 21 crore.
What was his modus operandi?
Rishab kept a list of numbers he used to inquire if people were interested in work from home opportunities. To add authenticity to the offer, he created a fake Marriott Bonvoy website called “marriotwork.com” where users were invited to write “reviews”.
His latest victim was a businessman from Uttarakhand. The person initially received the work-from-home offer via WhatsApp, and the report says he initially thought it was legitimate. Later, the businessman had a conversation with Marriott Bonvoy’s “Rishab Sharma” and his colleague Sonia.
To build trust, the fraudsters initially transferred Rs 10,000 to the businessman’s ICICI bank account, followed by additional payments. However, doubts arose when the businessman was urged to invest more in the opportunity. When he inquired about refunds, the scammers rejected his inquiry and falsely promised even bigger winnings.
“Every time I asked for returns, they persuaded me to invest more, claiming that the return could be a million. Finally, they stopped answering my calls and messages, and the numbers were blocked. By then, I had already invested Rs 20,000,” he said.
This method was used by the scammer to cheat many people out of their hard earned money. According to the police, he even transferred money to China for cryptocurrencies and allegedly acted as an agent for an international gang.
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