‘Make your baby a model’: Cyber cons offer photoshoot, cheat couple of Rs 7 lakh

Ghaziabad: A 28-year-old man was allegedly cheated of Rs 7 lakh by fraudsters on the pretext of a photoshoot of his baby.According to police, Sangam Vihar residents Lalit Kumar Kaushik and his wife Payal were approached by a Facebook page ‘Sparkling Childhood' on Jan 7, asking if they would be interested in having their child model for a clothing brand. After a short discussion about the photoshoot, the parents were asked to send three photos of the baby. The fraudsters then asked them to connect to their purported manager, Krishna Gowtham, via Telegram. They were asked to share a code and send a photograph of the child to the manager. He told the parents that they needed to earn points through tasks and only then would their marketing team proceed with the child's photoshoot. "Krishna added us to a Telegram group ‘Kids Club (18)' and told us to follow and like the links that would be posted in the group and send them screenshots," said Kaushik. In return, the parents were paid between Rs 150 and Rs 300 for each link they liked. The money would be credited to their accounts instantaneously.After a few bouts of these tasks, the couple was asked to invest Rs 1,000 and in return, they would receive Rs 1,300 within 15 minutes. Skeptical about the scheme, Kaushik and Payal refused to pay upfront but Krishna assured them that their money would be safe. As promised, the money was credited to their account.The couple was then asked to invest Rs 5,000 in the next round and Krishna connected them to a man named Bharat through Telegram. He shared a website link that showed that the investment returns had been credited to the couple's bank accounts. The fraudsters kept on insisting that the couple's money was safe. Between Jan 8 and 9, Lalit Kaushik transferred Rs 7 lakh to the fraudsters. But on Jan 10, Lalit Kaushik was unable to withdraw the amount. Kaushik was then connected to the company's customer service Telegram ID for a refund. No amount was refunded and they were eventually removed from the group. Following this, Lalit Kaushik filed a complaint at the cybercrime police station. Peeyush Kumar Singh, ADCP (crime & cyber), said that, an FIR has been registered on Wednesday against an unknown person under Section 318(4) (cheating) of BNS and relevant sections of the IT Act.