Two held in Mumbai for duping fashion designer of Rs 10.67 lakh in online job scam

The Mumbai Crime Branch's West Region Cyber Crime Police Station has arrested two individuals for allegedly swindling a fashion designer of Rs 10.67 lakh. The scam involved offering her a part-time job that required 'Liking and Subscribing' to YouTube videos.

According to reports in TOI, The arrested individuals have been identified as Sumit Gupta (36), an employee at a private company, and Parth Panchal (25), who manages a business specializing in repairing and selling photocopier machines.

The victim, a 46-year-old resident of Vile Parle, lodged a First Information Report (FIR) on April 7, accusing the suspects of cheating, forgery, and identity theft. She had initially received a WhatsApp message from a person claiming to be "Divya" and associated with YouTube marketing.

Divya communicated with the complainant through Telegram messages, posing as a representative from YouTube marketing. She promised the victim payment in exchange for liking and subscribing to specific YouTube channels. To facilitate the payments, the victim shared her bank account details with the fraudster.

After completing her assigned tasks, the victim received money in her bank account. The accused then directed her to a link where she created a login ID and password, which revealed a virtual wallet in her name. Promised a 30% to 40% profit, the victim invested in the scheme and saw her initial profit in the wallet. However, when she attempted to transfer the money from the wallet to her bank account, she encountered difficulties.

It was only when the victim inquired about these issues that the fraudsters demanded additional money. By this point, she had already paid them a staggering Rs 10.67 lakh, leading her to realize that something was amiss. Subsequently, she filed an FIR to report the scam.

The police investigation revealed that the money received was in the accounts of the accused individuals, leading to their arrest. Furthermore, it was discovered that Parth Panchal had previously been arrested by the Gujarat police in a separate cheating case. As a result, Rs 6 lakh in the accounts of the accused has been frozen.