A 28-year-old psychologist from Lower Parel lost ₹9.37 lakh to cyber frauds who promised her a part-time job and encouraged her to invest in cryptocurrencies.
As per the police, on May 9, the frauds approached the complainant, Dr Vamakashi Painter, through WhatsApp and offered her a part-time job on YouTube. “The caller told her for every video she liked on the platform she will get ₹50 as a reward. They sent her three videos and as she liked them and sent the screenshot, they sent her ₹150 to her bank account and gained her confidence,” said a police officer from N M Joshi Marg police station.
Later, the accused asked her to shift to other mediums like investing in virtual and cryptocurrencies for around 30% returns in just ten minutes, added the officer.
“They opened her crypto currency account where they claimed that Painter could check her balance. They gave her tasks and asked her to invest accordingly. Motivated and lured by them, she invested a total of ₹9.37 lakh. She could see her balance was higher on the application and kept on investing till May 12 only to find that the money shown on the application cannot be withdrawn and she was cheated. Then she approached us,” said the police officer.
Neither did she get her original amount, nor any profits, said the police officer, adding, “We have registered the offence and are searching for the accused through bank and other technical details.”
A case was registered against an unknown accused under sections 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
