Thane man loses Rs 37 lakh while looking for a new job online, scammers approached him on WhatsApp

By Divyanshi Sharma: The past couple of months have seen a sharp rise in cases relating to online scams across the country. People are falling prey to scammers' tricks and are losing their hard-earned money. In most cases, scammers gain the victim's trust by paying them a small amount initially. Once the unsuspecting victim's trust in them grows, the scammers ask them to invest larger sums promising greater returns. But sadly, that seldom happens and the victims end up losing all of their invested money.

In a new incident, a man from Mumbai's Thane lost around Rs 37 lakh when he came across a promising part-time job offer that could get him up to Rs 2,000-3,000 per day.

Thane man loses Rs 37 lakh in online scam

According to a Times of India report, the man, based out of Thane, was looking for a new job online as his contract with his current job was about to end. He had uploaded his resume on two online recruitment portals, after which he received a call from an unknown number on WhatsApp. The caller offered the job-seeker a 'part time job' which could help him earn up to Rs 3,000 per day. The victim was then told that all that he will have to do is like pictures of active celebrities on Instagram. He would be paid a sum of Rs 70 per like and was asked to send screenshots as proof of the work.

The victim believed the caller and sent the screenshots after which he got Rs 210 as payment.

After this, the victim was added to a Telegram group in which the scammers gave tasks that involved depositing money to buy cryptocurrency. The TOI report states that the man initially got Rs 9,980 against his investment of Rs 9,000. He began trusting the scammers and thought that this was a legitimate business. In hopes of getting greater returns on his investments, the man paid another Rs 30,000 and got Rs 8,208 in return. He was then given a 'VIP Account status' and was now allowed to deposit larger amounts.

Gradually, the victim ended up paying Rs 37 lakh to the scammers and got nothing in return. He realised he had been scammed only after losing all his money and approached the police.

How can you stay safe?

The liking pictures scam isn't unheard of and there have been many victims of the same scam in the last few months. The best way to stay safe from such scams is to not trust strangers with your money and never invest just because there are promises of huge returns. Only invest in legitimate businesses that have a reputation and the moment you talk to someone new online, perform a thorough background check of the person.

Finally, if people approach you saying that they have a 'scheme' that will double your money or give great returns, steer clear as such promises are often made by scammers to fool people.