A 22-year-old man from Coimbatore has lost Rs 8.35 lakh to online scammers who lured him into a fake job of posting online reviews.
The victim, a college student, invested this money by borrowing from friends and his parents. The scammers posed as representatives from a firm that offered huge payment for posting reviews about hotels and restaurants online, according to a report by The New Indian Express.
The victim was initially tasked with writing positive reviews and promised a good income. However, he was soon introduced to an investment scheme where he ended up investing Rs 8.35 lakh over the course of one and a half months, according to the police.
The victim, who lives in Gandhi Nagar in Kovaipudur and is, studying for his postgraduate (PG) degree at a private college in Coimbatore, received a message on WhatsApp from an unknown number on January 31.
The sender, claiming to be an officer from a private firm, offered him a part-time job of reviewing hotels and restaurants on Google Maps. He accepted the job and began working.
As he continued, the scammers encouraged him to invest in their investment scheme, assuring him that he would get good returns and see the returns displayed in a virtual account they provided.
However, he was unable to withdraw any of the funds. When he approached the scammers to withdraw his money, they misled him into believing he needed to pay a huge tax amount, stated a report by The New Indian Express.
Suspicious of their responses, he investigated further and realised he had been scammed by them. He then reported the incident to the Coimbatore cybercrime police, who have since initiated an investigation and are working to freeze the bank accounts linked to the scam.
