Mumbai: A 38-year-old woman fell prey to scammers in an online rate and review fraud and lost over Rs 71 lakh. In order to gain trust of the complainant, the scammers initially gave her Rs 19000 and induced her to transfer more money by promising higher returns.
According to the police, the complainant is a resident of Jalgaon. On March 03, the complainant had received a WhatsApp message from a woman giving her an opportunity wherein the complainant would have to give good reviews for various restaurants through the company's website for which she can earn around Rs 1000-1500 commission which will be transferred to you by the company via bank transfer.
The scammer then shared a website link with the complainant and asked her to register on the said website. The complainant followed these instructions after which she was asked to complete the review and rating tasks. Initially, the complainant received Rs 19500 in her bank account from the scammers after which she believed that the said earning opportunity was genuine.
Thereafter, from March 07 to April 27, the complainant was induced to transfer Rs 71.52 lakh in different beneficiary bank accounts in 30 online transactions. From April 27 till May 02, the complainant made several attempts to withdraw her money and establish contact with the scammers.
After repeated attempts when the complainant did not receive her money, she raised a complaint on the cyber-crime portal following which a case has been registered in the matter under sections 318 (cheating) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.
