Cyber fraud: Couple loses over ₹1 cr for rating Hollywood, Bollywood movies

According to the daily, the scam began after the couple received a message on Telegram that reads, “You can earn by sitting at home in your comfort, only you have to do is to give ratings to the movies”.

Sharing a fake link, the fraudsters promised daily earnings between ₹2,500 and ₹5,000.

The couple was told to buy the ticket first to prove they have watched the movie before they gave final ratings.

Thereafter, the couple was supposed to get paid after watching each movie. The movies included Bollywood, Hollywood, and south Indian movies, respectively.

The daily added that to win the confidence of the couple, the fraudsters sent the victim a coupon for ₹10,000. Thereafter, ₹99,000 was deposited to her account after some days. The victims began rating movies and the ticket’s total outstanding reached up to ₹5 lakh. But when she went to withdraw, she was asked to buy more tickets for more earnings.

The cops said that the victims got trapped in a vicious cycle of investing more to get their own money.

In this entire episode, the couple invested ₹40 lakh in buying tickets, and the cyber fraudsters asked them to pay a surcharge in advance to withdraw money as it was a big amount. The total paid amount was ₹70 lakh.

Thereafter, the fraudsters said that a case of money laundering could be registered against the couple if they would withdraw such a big amount. So they suggested the couple invest the entire amount in some other scheme, TOI wrote in its report.

In this manner, the couple lost ₹1.12 crore before they realized they were cheated.

Cyber expert Amit Dubey advised people to avoid such luring offers that ask you to click on a mischievous link.

Dubey told Mint, “Online fraudsters will send you a link asking you to click on that. Once you click on that, you become a victim of a malware phishing attack and your entire data becomes available to the fraudsters, which includes your Aadhaar card, PAN card, bank account details, etc. So, one is advised to avoid such luring offers that ask you to click on a mischeivious link”.