A 35-year-old woman from Mumbai fell victim to a work-from-home (WFH) scam and lost INR 1.15 lakh to online fraudsters. She submitted her profile to a website called "Work From Home" and received a link via WhatsApp by an unknown caller. The link took her to an online shopping mall's website that offered remote work opportunities.
The woman was initially asked to make purchases online for certain tasks in exchange for a commission and money back. She paid INR 100 and received both her money and commission back. As she trusted the job and the system, she made more costly purchases, spending a total of INR 115,960.
She was required to transfer money into an account using a UPI ID to purchase the item. She made these costly purchases and waited for reimbursement from the business. When she enquired about the delay, she was asked to make another deposit to receive the commission and balance. It was at this point that she realised that she had been scammed and filed a complaint with the police.
The police have filed a case of cheating against two unnamed individuals under sections 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation by utilising computer resources) of the Information Technology Act, as well as under sections 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Investigators are now contacting service providers to obtain information on mobile numbers, bank accounts, UPI IDs, and eWallets used in the crime.
The woman, who had small children to take care of, had been employed by a private company to coordinate sales.
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