In a incident that went viral on the internet, a 28-year-old man lost Rs 3.5 million for a very convincing fake job offer he received on WhatsApp.
The incident happened in the Indian city of Mumbai where a soccer coach fell victim to an online scam, resulting in a loss of INR 9.87 lakh.
The victim, identified as Joel Chetty, aged 28, was contacted via WhatsApp on August 16 by an individual purporting to represent a company that was offering part-time employment opportunities.
The nature of the job involved him subscribing to a YouTube channel, capturing screenshots of the content, and forwarding them to the supposed company.
Agreeing to the arrangement, Chetty was sent a Telegram link by the scammer, who then requested his personal and banking information, which he unsuspectingly provided.
Initially, the victim received a nominal payment of INR 150 upon completing a task. Subsequently, he undertook another online task that yielded INR 2,800 in compensation.