In a shocking series of events, a man from Moraiya, Ahmedabad became the victim of an online scam and lost a huge sum of Rs. 40 thousand. This is through the YouTube ‘likes’ scam. Scammers have used work from home scams to trick people and many have lost a lot of money.
Devang Chauhan, a 3D designer, passed away $40 lakh after being scammed by a fake job offer promising easy money. Chauhan received a message on Whatsapp from an unknown number on April 21. He called this number to find out more and was offered the job ‘like’ and advertise YouTube video. The person promised to pay him a good amount for this.
Chauhan received an initial payment of $150 in his account and added to Telegram group along with others who are also earning. Before starting the quest, he must pay an upfront fee of $1,500. However, he was refunded the fee along with a surcharge. $400 after completing the first mission. In total, he received $1,900, including fees and some extra income.
Then Chauhan paid $2,050 for the next mission but got no coins back. He was then given bigger tasks by different people who contacted him and he believed it was a legitimate opportunity. He even joins other Telegram groups to do more tasks. He ended up paying around $30 lakh to get more quests, but never get any money for completed jobs.
When Chauhan tried to get his money back, scammers blocked him. They claimed that he gave a negative review and used it as an excuse not to pay him. They even forced him to pay $11 lakh in tax to free his payment!
Knowing he was being scammed, Chauhan filed a police report. The case is currently under investigation.
The lesson here is that every person who goes online must pay more attention to what is happening. Whenever someone, especially a stranger, promises something that sounds too good to be true, it probably is and should be ignored. It is extremely important to be cautious with any plan that promises easy money.
