A 37-year-old homemaker from Borivali lost Rs 2.33 lakh in a cyber-fraud after the fraudsters sent her a message purportedly sent by Amazon offering her a work-from-home job where she has to invest money initially to buy an Amazon product and increase its rating for which she would get a commission.
The incident took place on August 16. The woman contacted the accused after she received an SMS. The accused told her that she could earn a good commission if she helps them to sell Amazon products and to increase its sale.
When the woman agreed the fraudster sent her a “Power of Attorney Letter”. She was then asked to buy an Amazon product by sending money to a particular e-wallet after which she will get Rs 200 as commission.
The woman paid Rs 5,000 and soon after received Rs 200 as commission in her bank account along with her invested amount. On August 17, the fraudster said his senior officer will contact her on Telegram for a “bigger task”.
The woman received a message on Telegram by the fraudster where she was asked to put money in nine different e-wallet accounts. The woman ended up paying Rs 2.33 lakh thinking she will get Rs 4.04 lakh. When she did not receive the money she called up the fraudster who said she will have to pay Rs 80,700 as income tax.
The woman asked for her money back and the fraudster refused to return it asking her to pay the income tax first. The woman then realised she had been duped and approached the Borivali police and lodged an FIR on August 19.
“In the also two years of the pandemic, work from home has gained popularity and fraudsters are now mass messaging people for such opportunities specially with large organisations. No credible organisations will send such mass messages and the shoddy nature of the job that is asked to be done itself is a big red flag. Another red flag should be where the job is part time and large amount of quick money is promised. An advisory should also be issued at the earliest so as to create awareness,” said Ritesh Bhatia, a cyber crime investigator.