How Fraudsters Used Google Review Tasks To Dupe A Pune Consultant Of Rs 2.72 Crore

Online job opportunities and task-based earning platforms have become increasingly popular nowadays as they provide users with multiple means to earn money through small online activities, such as reviews or engagement tasks. However, some of these schemes later turn out to be fraudulent and result in financial losses for the users.

Work-from-home task fraud is an online scam where some fake platforms promise easy money for simple tasks, but later people are tricked into sending money and end up getting cheated. In one such instance, a 51-year-old tax consultant from Pune was allegedly cheated of Rs 2.72 crore after being lured into a similar work-from-home Google review task scheme.

How the Victim was Trapped

The victim was approached on social media messaging platform Telegram through a woman’s profile that shared work-from-home job offers. He was then added to a group where members were given simple tasks like writing Google reviews and were initially paid small amounts. To build trust, he was shown earnings of around Rs 100 per task for completing these basic activities.

Investigators said the small payments made at the beginning for simple online tasks helped build the victim’s trust in the scheme. After that, he was moved to a prepaid task system where he was asked to deposit money first, such as Rs 1,000, with the promise of getting Rs 1,200 after completing the task, according to a report in the Indian Express.

The fraudsters gradually increased the required payments while promising higher returns, claiming that the earnings would be reflected in the app or website-based accounts. However, the returns were never credited to his bank account. Instead, fake earnings were shown on an online platform that the victim was asked to access, an officer involved in the investigation said.

The fraud continued for around two months, during which the victim carried out 33 financial transactions. When he attempted to withdraw the money, he was prevented with repeated new conditions and asked to pay more charges. Once he realised it was a scam, he approached the Pune Cyber Crime Police Station and lodged a complaint.

How to Stay Safe

In many such scams, victims understand they have been cheated only when they are unable to access their money, after which the fraudsters vanish from the online platforms.

Such cases highlight the need to be cautious with online job offers that promise easy money. Users should not make advance payments for these things. They should also verify the platforms before investing and report any suspicious activity to cyber crime authorities immediately.