New Delhi: A resident of southwest Delhi’s Vasant Kunj was allegedly duped of Rs 17.49 lakh by cyber fraudsters who promised him a part-time online job.According to police, a complaint was received via the NCRP portal on May 27 from the victim, who reported being scammed by individuals posing as employers on social media. The incident began on May 23, when the complainant was offered Rs 50 per website review as part of a supposed work-from-home (WFH) opportunity. After completing a few initial tasks, he was asked to take on a “prepaid task” involving the sale and purchase of bitcoins and to submit screenshots as proof of completion.Enticed by the promise of higher returns, the victim began investing larger sums of money. Over time, he was manipulated into making continuous deposits, ultimately losing Rs 17.49 lakh.An FIR was registered at the Cyber Police Station (southwest Delhi) under Sections 318 (cheating), 61 (criminal conspiracy), and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). A dedicated police team was formed to investigate the matter.DCP (southwest) Amit Goel stated, “The team traced the money trail and analysed CCTV footage from the bank branches where transactions occurred. Based on this, one suspect—Ankur Mishra (22)—was identified. Subsequent raids were conducted in Lucknow and Agra (Uttar Pradesh) and in Bhopal and Shivpuri (Madhya Pradesh), resulting in four arrests.”The arrested individuals were identified as Ankur Mishra, Kratarth (21), Vishwash Sharma (32), and Ketan Mishra (18). Ankur is a resident of UP, while the others hail from MP.“The accused operated a pan-India fraud network through social media, luring people with fake work-from-home offers. After gaining victims’ trust with small payouts, they would introduce high-value prepaid tasks under the guise of redeeming earnings,” DCP Goel added.Police also revealed that the gang used multiple bank accounts to launder the defrauded money, which was later converted into cryptocurrency to avoid detection. Authorities recovered four mobile phones and four SIM cards used in the crime.
