While the internet has brought convenience, it has also resulted in an upsurge in criminal activities. Instances of people falling prey to scams and unknown individuals online have become common, causing significant financial and mental damage. Recently, a young man from Mumbai fell victim to such an incident, losing a whopping sum of Rs 1.3 crore after simply liking a video on YouTube.
The victim, a 47-year-old employee of a marketing company, was enticed by a cybercriminal who promised him a daily earning of Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000. The perpetrator convinced the victim to pay for watching and liking YouTube videos and instructed him to transfer money to 25 different bank accounts over a period of three months, from January to March.
As per the police investigation, the victim was approached through a WhatsApp message that offered him a part-time job, promising an earning of Rs 5,000-7,000 per day. During their conversation, the victim was told that he would receive YouTube videos which he had to watch, like, and send screenshots of to the sender on WhatsApp.
The cybercriminals coerced the victim to pay a registration fee of Rs 5,000 and sent him a YouTube video link with instructions to watch and like the videos and send screenshots to them via WhatsApp. Subsequently, Rs 10,000 was deposited in his bank account. The victim was also asked to join a Telegram channel and was convinced to invest money and do some work in return for the promise of making a large sum of money in the future.
When the victim requested a refund of his investment, he discovered that he had been duped. The cybercriminals then demanded more money from him, claiming that he had not performed the job satisfactorily. The victim, realizing he had been scammed, reported the incident to the police.