Two Hyderabad women, including a student, duped of ₹4.33 lakh

Two women from Hyderabad joined the list of cyber fraud victims after being duped of ₹4.33 lakh in two separate cases.

In the first instance, a 21-year-old female student, in the hope of getting high returns on investment, lost ₹1.90 lakh to cyber fraudsters.

According to the police, the student received a WhatsApp message regarding an online Google rating task. She was asked to join a Telegram group for daily review rating tasks where the scammers asked her for a small investment, promising high returns.

She received some money, which built her trust just before the scammers sent her a link, asking her to create a profile for a Bitcoin (BTC) account to earn more profits. When the victim paid ₹1.90 lakh, she was asked to proceed to a ‘third step’, which involved another payment. As the victim refused to pay again, the scammers insisted that only after this transaction would she receive a refund.

In another case, a 33-year-old woman lost ₹2.43 lakh after she was sent a link to ‘update her new delivery address’.

The scam unfolded as the victim received an SMS stating that her package was on hold and that a new delivery address was required. “The SMS included a URL to provide the updated delivery address. The victim clicked the link, which appeared to be the India Post website, and provided her current address. After submitting the address, she was prompted to make a payment of ₹25.02 for re-delivery by entering her credit card details,” the police said.

In a short while, the victim received two messages with OTPs for transactions totalling ₹2.43 lakh which the website automatically read and deducted the amount from her credit card, the police said.

The victim immediately blocked her credit card and lodged a complaint with the bank. Meanwhile the police have filed cases and begun investigations in both the scams.

Published - October 04, 2024 12:21 am IST