An IT professional from Nagpur allegedly lost Rs 42.55 lakh to an online “task fraud”, wherein cyber fraudsters lured him to perform various tasks to make money.
The matter came to light earlier this week when the victim approached the Cyber police station with a complaint, following which an offense under section 420 (cheating) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology (IT) Act was registered.
Praful Ragrao Gondekar (30) received a link for an online part-time job on WhatsApp and he was added to a chat group named “LY online trading D101”, which had 35 members.
Gondekar was informed on chat that the members had profited significantly from the investments they made. The fraudsters encouraged him to register on a website by promising him substantial profits.
The victim registered himself on the website, but could not make any money. He was asked to perform several such tasks since June, but he lost money each time he failed to complete the work.
Gondekar lost Rs 42.55 lakh to fraudsters in two months.