A resident of Greater Noida has fallen victim to a work-from-home scam related to rating hotels on Google Maps. Sandeep Kumar, living in the Chi-1 sector, lost Rs. 20.54 lakh in January this year, as reported by PTI.
An FIR was lodged at the Cyber Crime police station in Noida Sector 36 against an unknown person earlier this week. The FIR includes charges under sections 420 (cheating) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Information Technology Act, in line with neighborhood police.
💡Table of Content
➥ Information about the scam
Kumar told the police he got a WhatsApp message offering a job to rate hotels on Google Maps for money. After replying to the message, he was added to a Telegram group with around 100 people. He started doing the rating tasks, which later included making investments.
"I began by rating hotels and doing other tasks. Then, there were investment tasks. I first put in Rs. 50,000 but couldn't withdraw my money from the website," Kumar explained. When he tried withdrawing, he was told to pay an extra Rs. 5 lakh as tax. In the end, he invested a total of Rs. 20,54,464.
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"They asked me to pay an extra ₹5 lakh as tax to their account. That’s when I realized I was a victim of financial fraud. I can’t withdraw my investment of about ₹20,54,464," Kumar said in his police complaint.
➥ Claims of Death Threats
Kumar claimed that he has been getting death threats from scammers through Telegram and phone calls. "These people are threatening me with death on Telegram and phone calls to unfreeze the accounts," he said.
➥ Follow these safety tips to protect yourself from online scams
➲ Use Trusted Apps
Install dependable apps like "Fraud Alert" through CERT-In, "mSafe" through NCSAP, and Google's "Anti-Phishing App" for real-time signals and safety towards phishing attacks.
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Install Reliable Apps: Use trustworthy apps such as "Fraud Alert" by CERT-In, "mSafe" by NCSAP, and Google's "Anti-Phishing App" for instant warnings and protection from phishing attacks.
➲ Limit Personal Information
Be careful whilst sharing private info online. Avoid disclosing touchy facts like telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, and financial institution account statistics to unusual sources.
Share Less Personal Info: Be careful about sharing your personal details online. Don’t give out sensitive information like your phone number, email, or bank account to unknown people or websites.
➲ Question Unsolicited Requests
Be skeptical of emails and messages inquiring about private data, as scammers frequently use such approaches to thieve touchy information.
Doubt Unasked Requests: Be wary of unexpected emails and messages asking for your personal information, as scammers often use these tricks to steal data.
➲ Maintain Software Updates
Regularly replace your software program to advantage of protection patches that defend against malware and different threats.
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Keep Software Updated: Update your software regularly to get security patches that help protect against malware and other dangers.
➲ Verify Claims
Disregard gives loose items from unknown people and keeps away from making online bills with outright verification of the source.
Check Claims: Ignore free gift offers from unknown people and don’t make online payments unless you have verified the source is trustworthy.
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