Pharma executive duped of 11 lakh

Ahmedabad: An executive with a pharmaceutical company living in the Satellite area of the city was allegedly cheated out of Rs 10.79 lakh by cybercriminals, using the task fraud modus operandi. Sunil Patil, a resident of Mukesh Park Society near Shyamal Crossroads, filed a complaint in this regard on Friday with Cybercrime police for breach of trust, cheating and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and offences under the Information Technology Act. Patel said he received a message on Aug 12 about a way to make money working part time. The message promised good ‘returns’ on completing 35 tasks. Patil clicked on the link provided and was added to a WhatsApp group. On the group, Patil was instructed to fill in a form with his personal details and banking information. He was then told to perform several tasks such as ‘buying’ articles online. With each task, Patil was shown to have garnered earnings on a portal created by the fraudsters but was never able to withdraw any money. With every ‘task’, Patil had to pay more to get more ‘tasks’. After he had paid Rs 10.79 lakh over 20 transactions between Aug 12 and Sept 19, Patil realized that he was being cheated. Several gangs run scams relating to such tasks or part-time jobs. While the basic methods remain the same, the tasks differ. The tasks given are to like posts or videos on YouTube or to rate businesses, products or services on Google. The victim is asked to deposit small amounts initially and may even be paid small cash rewards to win their confidence. The victims, however, end up losing large sums to the scamsters. According to a white paper by the Future Crime Research Foundation (FCRF), an organization spearheaded by the IIT Kanpur, Gujarat has increasingly become a target for cybercriminals. It revealed that Ahmedabad and Surat are evolving into the nation's newest cybercrime hotspots.
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