A 31-year-old Kharghar woman, working with an IT firm has fallen victim to cyber fraud, losing Rs 21.96 lakh in cryptocurrency investment. The unsuspecting victim was lured with the promise of lucrative returns for investment in cryptocurrency. Initially, the victim was approached through a WhatsApp message with a part time job. Upon giving a consent, the victim was added to a Telegram channel and asked to review the website. She was also paid Rs 150 and Rs 3350 for the reviews. However, she was lured with a bigger income in cryptocurrency investment and added in another Telegram channel. They provided a mentor to guide her and she started investment with Rs 5000 and subsequently Rs 19,850.
She was informed that she had made a profit of Rs 90,000 and shared the screenshot. They also provided a link to a website where she saw the profit. In order to get the profit money to transfer in her bank account, one of them cyber frauds shared another person's Telegram ID and asked her to contact. In the same manner, she was asked to contact several people and finally, she was asked to pay Rs 67,300 as her profile was locked. Subsequently, for various reasons, she was asked to pay Rs 1,60,000, Rs 4,00,000, Rs5,44,020, Rs 5,00,000 and again Rs 5,00,000. In total, she transferred Rs 21,96,170 from January 2 to January 6, 2024.Realising the extent of the deception, the victim approached the Cyber Police Station in Navi Mumbai and filed a complaint. The police have registered a case under relevant sections of the IPC and IT Act against four unidentified persons and started an investigation.