Kasaragod: A hotel management executive who quit his job in Riyadh nine months ago and returned home lost Rs 22 lakh to a 'prepaid job scam' in Kasaragod district, said police.
The scammers used a dummy webpage of 'Flight Network', a ticket booking site based in Canada, to dupe him.
Based on the victim's complaint, Kasaragod's Chittarikkal police charged two persons whose phone numbers were used to contact him with cheating (Section 420 of IPC) and impersonation and cheating using electronic devices (Section 66D of the Information Technology Act).

The victim, aged 31, said the cyber fraudsters lured him into a scam by asking him to book 'virtual tickets' to create artificial demand that would jack up the ticket price. But to do that, he had to shell out money from his pocket.

Between November 6, 2023, and January 30, he transferred more than Rs 22 lakh to around 20 bank accounts of the scammers. "But I got less than Rs 1 lakh back," he told Onmanorama.

How the scam works
Around nine months ago, the victim, who served as a restaurant manager in Riyadh, returned home to be with his wife and just-born child.

He was looking for a job when in November he got a message on WhatsApp saying:
"We looking for more staff
Work from home/ 1-3 hour
Salary: 1000 rs - 4200 rs/ day
May I send details to you??"
The victim took the bait and replied: "Can I know more details please".

The scammer then offered him two options: a part-time job where he could earn Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 per day by working for one hour to three hours; and a full-time job where he could earn Rs 2,200 to Rs 4,200 per day by working three to five hours a day.

When the victim was hooked, another person who was identified as Shaurya took over the WhatsApp conversation from another phone number.

Shaurya, evidently a fake name, texted: "So our job mainly is to help increase Flight Network ticket rate by booking and giving a rating, no need to purchase or order anything."

Shaurya then sent a link to a 'working platform' of Flight Network to register and create an account. "The URL has a life of only a few minutes and would need an access code to enter," the victim said.

The victim said he looked up the internet for Flight Network and found the site to be genuine. But the URL that the scamsters gave him was fake.

Once logged in, the victim saw Rs 10,000 in his account. He was expected to buy virtual tickets from airlines using that money and earn bonuses. "They asked me to make 30 transactions every day," he said.

In the second round, the prices of the virtual tickets shot up and there was no bonus from the company. "But in order to recoup the money he invested in the first round, the victim played along," said a police officer at Chittarikkal police station.

In the third round, the victim was asked to join a Telegram group where he would get the to-do tasks. "The Telegram group had around 30 members and came across as full of achievers. Whenever I raised a doubt in the group or privately, the members allayed it. I suspect now that all the members of the Telegram are on the rolls of the scammers," he said.

But to complete the assignments he got from Telegram, the victim had to shell out big money. The prices of tickets increased every round but the web page did not have an option to deposit money. "They gave me third-party account numbers where I had to credit money. Once the money is transferred to these accounts, it will be reflected on my account on the web page. I can use it to buy virtual tickets," he said. But the scamsters pressured him to transfer the money fast saying the account numbers would be live only for a few minutes.

Police said scamsters created artificial urgency to ensure their victims did not think. He kept transferring money to these bank accounts and bought virtual tickets till January 30. "Even when I realised I was being duped, the fraudsters told me that I was running a negative account of Rs 7 lakh and I had to shell out that much money to make a profit," he said.

The two phone numbers that were used to contact the victim were still alive. One of them is traced to the Northeast. The victim said he shared with police the account numbers to which he transferred the money. One of the accounts is blocked, he said.

Police said scamsters often gave their victims 'prepaid tasks' such as giving ratings to hotels, restaurants, and movies, liking YouTube videos, following Instagram accounts, and giving feedback on products on Amazon and Flipkart. "All these scams follow the same model of taking money from the public," the police officer said.

The victim said he initially used his own money to gamble but later had to pledge family gold ornaments to keep buying virtual tickets. "I returned to stay with my wife and family. Now I will have to go back to the Gulf," he said.