In the Thane district of Maharashtra, seven job seekers were allegedly defrauded of roughly Rs 19 lakh by an unnamed person under the pretence of offering them part-time employment, according to police.
A complaint made by one of the victims who lost Rs 2.82 lakh to scammers led to the registration of an offence under the relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act on Sunday, according to a representative of the Manpada police station in Dombivili town.
According to the complainant, she had received a message from an unknown number on an app about the availability of part-time jobs last month, he said.
The victim was asked to carry out some activities on the app and on YouTube, after which some money was credited to her account. However, after carrying out more such activities, she found that Rs 2.82 lakh had been siphoned off from her account, the official said.
On realising that she had been cheated, the woman approached the police and found that six others had been duped in the same manner, he said.
The seven victims have lost nearly Rs 19 lakh in the fraud, the official said, adding that no arrest has been made in the case so far.
