Gurugram woman becomes victim of online movie review scam, loses Rs 76 lakh; Here's what happened

By Team Newsable | First Published Apr 6, 2023, 2:40 PM IST

In a latest episode of cyber fraud, a female MNC executive was allegedly duped of more than Rs 76 lakh by online frauds who promised her high returns on a part time job. The job was simple. She was asked to rate movies on a mobile app, police said on Wednesday.

In a recent scam, con artists promised victims a part-time employment where they would view movies and get paid to rate them. A lady from Gurugram lost around Rs 76 lakh in a case that is identical to this one after falling for a similar movie review fraud.

According to the media reports, Divya, an executive at an MNC in Gurugram, fell for a part-time employment chance that required her to view and evaluate various movies on a mobile app, losing more than Rs 76 lakh online. The victim, who is a resident of New Colony revealed in her complaint that on February 25, she was contacted by a woman named Meera on Telegram with an offer for a part-time job.

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Two days later, Tejaswi, a different lady, started texting her. The victim was told by Tejaswi that her part-time work involved rating movies on the Bitmaxfilm.com app, and she was urged to sign up and begin rating in order to make additional cash.

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In her complaint, Divya said, "The caller told me that I had to complete one set at least every day. 28 movies from each collection had to be evaluated. I was informed I could take my money once the set was finished, but the account needs to be recharged with Rs. 10,500 to begin rating."

The victim also revealed that the con artist provided an account number that could be used to make payments and begin the job. The victim took advantage of the chance by opening an account on Bitmaxfilm.com and making numerous transfers of currency.

"While rating the tickets, the platform informed me that I had received a premium ticket and would need to deposit the negative balance in order to use it. If I don't pay the negative balance, I won't be able to finish the set, and the account will freeze," the complainant continues.

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The woman further stated that she put Rs 29,500 first, followed by Rs 82,541. She was informed later that she needed to finish 30 tickets because the tasks had gone up. By this time, her balance on the website showed a negative of 5,48,658 and due to this she was asked to deposit Rs 9,59,357 to complete the final ticket. Later, she learned that she had progressed to level 8 and needed to finish 35 tickets.

The woman goes on to say that she put Rs 29,500 first, followed by Rs 82,541. She was informed later that she needed to finish 30 passes because the difficulty had gone up. Her online balance had fallen to a negative 5,48,658 by this point, and she was required to pay Rs 9,59,357 to finish the last ticket. Later, she learned that she had progressed to level 8 and needed to finish 35 passes.

The victim, according to the authorities, was told to pay Rs 21,23,765 with the understanding that she could withdraw all of her deposits after the deal was complete. She was unable to transfer her money, even after putting a total of Rs 76,84,493 into the app's account. And it was there that she learned that she was scammed.

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The victim later filed a complaint and an FIR was registered against unidentified frauds under sections 420 (cheating) of IPC and section 66-D of IT Act at Cyber Crime, West, Police Station.

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