Two Hyderabad residents lose over Rs 10 lakh in ‘pre-paid’ tasks and work-from-home scams
The victim was later lured into ‘prepaid jobs’ and was asked to make multiple deposits till September 5. The total amount went up to Rs 10,25,550.
By Newsmeter Network
Two Hyderabad residents lose over Rs 10 lakh in ‘pre-paid’ tasks and work-from-home scams
Hyderabad: Two persons in the city lost more than Rs 10 lakh in job-related investment frauds that were initiated through WhatsApp messages.
Abids resident loses Rs 10 lakh in a 'pre-paid' job
In the first case, a 35-year-old resident of Abids lost more than Rs 10 lakh in the part-time job scam. According to the police complaint, the victim was first approached on September 1 by a woman called ‘Chandrika from Qube Research and Technologies’ with a job opportunity to earn money through Google reviews.
The victim was later lured into ‘prepaid jobs’ and was asked to make multiple deposits till September 5. The total amount went up to Rs 10,25,550.
The scammers showed the victim a fake balance of Rs 15,57,900 but disabled withdrawals and demanded further deposits. Realising it was a scam, the victim approached the police and filed a complaint.
Asifnagar resident loses Rs 1.61 lakh in fake work-from-home job
In the second case, a 44-year-old resident of Asifnagar was contacted on August 28 by a woman claiming to be Veena Khatri from Michael Page IT.
She offered the victim a work-from-home job involving branded keyword searches. After gaining the victim’s trust with small payments, he was directed to a fraudulent site and asked to invest multiple times.
Later, a fake frozen balance of Rs 3,49,200 was shown, with demands for an additional Rs 3.50 lakh to release it. The victim eventually realised the trap but had already lost Rs 1,61,720 by that time.
Both cases highlight how cyber scammers exploit fake job offers and prepaid tasks to cheat victims out of large sums.
Public advisory
The police urge the residents of Hyderabad to:
- Be beware of job offers that lead to prepaid task scams
- Do not trust unsolicited job offers on WhatsApp/Telegram.
- never click on suspicious links or join unknown groups.
- Avoid paying any advance money for part-time or online jobs.
- Verify company details through official websites before engaging.
- Report suspicious messages immediately to the 1930 cyber helpline or www.cybercrime.gov.in
- In case of any emergency of cyber fraud, please call or WhatsApp 8712665171.
Follow police helplines on social media links for the latest cyber awareness updates.
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