CHANDIGARH, May 4:— A 30-year-old man from Sector 19 lost ₹9.27 lakh in a Telegram-based work-from-home scam that spanned over two weeks in April, police said on Friday.
The victim, Amarjit Singh, said he was contacted via Telegram on April 16 by someone identifying herself as “Nisha,” who offered him an online task-based job opportunity. Initially skeptical, Singh was convinced after receiving a small payment of ₹926 for completing a basic task, which built his trust.
As the scheme progressed, Singh was persuaded to deposit large sums to access what were claimed to be higher-paying tasks. He was shown an app balance of ₹10.96 lakh, but when he attempted to withdraw the funds on April 26, he was told that withdrawals above ₹2 lakh required a 50% deposit as a “guarantee.”
Singh then deposited ₹4.18 lakh under this pretext. However, access to the funds was still denied. The fraudsters raised a new excuse — his “credit score” was allegedly 96%, and he would need to deposit an additional ₹4 lakh to reach 100% and enable full withdrawal.
Between April 16 and 30, Singh deposited a total of ₹9,27,554 via links provided by the scammers. It was only after continued denial of access that he realised he had been conned and contacted the national cybercrime helpline (1930).
Following his complaint, the cybercrime police registered a case on Friday under Sections 316(2) (criminal breach of trust), 318(4) (cheating), and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Authorities have reiterated their warnings about digital job scams. “People should avoid engaging with unsolicited job offers on social media and never transfer money without verification,” a senior official said.
