A 27-year-old woman based in Ghatkopar became a victim of cyber fraud and ended up losing ₹5.35 lakhs to the scammers.

The victim, Sanika, was approached by a woman named Harshita Sharma, who introduced herself from the HR department of a company named Sandbox. According to Harshita, the job was the role of a social media promoter, where Sanika would have to review hotels and restaurants on Google. For each review, Harshita said they will pay her ₹150, and the payment will increase with every task in the future.

Sanika was asked to join a Telegram group named Google Business 188. She was assigned four tasks and was paid ₹200 on her Google Pay. Next, she was told about a ‘welfare task’ where she (Sanika) would need to pay ₹2,000 and upon completion, she would get ₹2,800 in return. As promised, Sanika was paid ₹2,800. In the next task, Sanika was told to pay ₹5,000, but this time she was paid back only ₹2,200. Believing them, the victim kept paying them expecting double returns, in amounts including ₹7,000, ₹108,958, ₹193,549, ₹50,000, ₹95,330, and so on – totalling up to ₹5,35, 837. When she asked them about the returns, she was told to pay ₹5 lakhs more.

“I told them I do not have any more money to pay, and asked them to return my money. But they refused when I realized I was cheated by them,” she said in her statement to the police. The victim registered a complaint at the online cyber crime portal, and then at the Park Site police station in Vikhroli. The police have initiated a probe into the case.

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