A 26-year-old accused, identified as Akshay Kumar Gopainkumar, has been arrested by the North Region Cyber Police for allegedly duping a Marathi comedian of around Rs 61 lakh under the pretext of offering part-time jobs involving liking links on social media platforms.
According to the police, the accused provided his bank accounts to cyber fraudsters to facilitate the scam. In return, he received a commission for his role in the fraudulent activities. Investigations have further revealed that other individuals are also involved in this racket, and police have launched a special operation to nab the remaining accused.
The complainant, a 48-year-old comedian, resides with his wife and daughter in the Thakur Village area of Kandivali for the past decade. On February 23, while at home, he received a message from an unknown WhatsApp number offering a part-time job that involved liking links. The message lured him with the promise of earning commissions from the comfort of his home.
The victim clicked on the links and completed the tasks as instructed. Following the completion of the initial tasks, a small sum was credited to his bank account, building his trust. He was later added to a Telegram group, where further personal and banking details were collected. Upon successfully completing ten tasks, he was paid Rs 11,000, and gradually he was assigned "paid tasks," which required him to make advance investments.
He was promised a 30% commission on the investment amount after completing each task. Initially, the fraudsters did pay him the promised returns, which strengthened his trust. Encouraged by the consistent payouts, the victim invested lakhs of rupees in various tasks. At one point, he was shown a profit of Rs 27.51 lakh in the system, and when he tried to withdraw the amount, he was informed that his "task credit score" was only 80 out of 100 and he would only be able to withdraw the funds once the score reached 100.
In pursuit of the required score, the victim invested an additional Rs 19.70 lakh. Once the score reached 100, the scammers claimed that the amount had grown even larger, and he would need to pay 30% of it as "tax" before the funds could be released. Trusting them, the victim transferred the so-called tax amount as well.
In total, the comedian ended up transferring Rs 61.83 lakh to the fraudsters under various pretexts, including investment, tax, and completing the tasks. However, even after repeated follow-ups, the fraudsters kept making excuses, stating that the tax had been deposited into the wrong account or pushing him to make further payments.
Realizing that he had been duped, the victim approached the Cyber Cell and lodged a complaint. Based on his complaint, the police registered a case against three unidentified cyber fraudsters under charges of cheating and relevant sections of the IT Act.
Following technical surveillance, the police zeroed in on Akshay Kumar Gopainkumar, who was detained for questioning. During the investigation, it was found that the fraudulent amount had been deposited into his bank account, which he had knowingly provided to the cyber fraudsters. He had later transferred the bulk of the money to the masterminds behind the scam, retaining a commission for himself.
The police have also identified other individuals who provided their bank accounts for similar scams, and efforts are underway to trace and arrest them. After being produced in a Borivali court, Akshay Kumar was remanded to 14 days of judicial custody.