Bengaluru employee loses ₹5 lakh to work-from-home scam

A defence employee in Bengaluru lost ₹5 lakh to a work-from-home scam, according to a report. The scam started with small investments that initially seemed profitable but ended in heavy losses. The victim had been looking for a part-time job for his wife and shared his contact details online. On March 11, he joined a Telegram group called "Work from Home, Freelance-37," where someone named Muskan Aggarwal claimed to be an HR manager for an e-commerce company. She offered him a remote job, which he trusted. He was told to promote products by adding them to an online shopping cart. The fraudsters assigned him small tasks that required a payment of ₹150, which he completed. He received returns on these tasks, encouraging him to invest more money. He ended up transferring ₹1,000 and received ₹1,650 in return, leading him to take on larger tasks. Eventually, he was instructed to make larger payments, including ₹3,000 and ₹7,000. He was then redirected to a cryptocurrency platform and was pressured to invest ₹38,000. After feeling threatened about losing his earlier payments, he went ahead with it. As the scam progressed, he invested a total of ₹5 lakh. Doubts began to surface when he was told he needed to pay ₹1.9 lakh just to withdraw his funds. Realizing he had been scammed, he approached the police. Authorities have opened an investigation into the case.