Mazgaon Youth Loses ₹9.27 Lakh in Online Task Scam

The Byculla Police have registered a case of cyber fraud involving a 25-year-old youth from Mazgaon who lost ₹9.27 lakh in an online task scam

A 25-year-old youth from Mazgaon in Mumbai fell victim to a cyber fraud scheme and lost ₹9.27 lakh, police said on Wednesday, adding that they have registered a case in this connection.

The victim, Fayyaz Jimmy Merchant, was invited by an unknown mobile number to "follow simple tasks and earn rupees" in a message on June 2 around 10:30 AM, the FIR stated.

Curious, he clicked on the message and got two Telegram users—Priya Mishra and Preeti—to add him to a group. They initially transferred ₹150 to him as a reward for completing the first task and asked him to send similar links to six other individuals each day to earn more money.

The two Telegram users kept on adding him to different groups and asked him to perform the same set of tasks, for which he would receive small payments, the FIR stated.

Later, he was asked to invest money on a website called coinbasee.ltd, which falsely claimed to offer high returns through virtual coin purchases. Starting with ₹1,000, he was promised and credited with ₹1,500 in return, it said.

Encouraged by the initial returns, Merchant invested a total of ₹9.27 lakh between June 2 and June 6, the FIR stated.

However, he soon realized he had been duped when no returns were credited thereafter and the platform became unresponsive, it added.

The Byculla Police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Bhartiy Nyay Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology (IT) Act against unknown individuals.