
A west Delhi businessman lost Rs50 lakh in a work-from-home fraud. The man was added to a social media group of 40 members and given tasks to rate restaurants, receiving Rs1,105 for…
A west Delhi businessman lost Rs50 lakh in a work-from-home fraud. The man was added to a social media group of 40 members and given tasks to rate restaurants, receiving Rs1,105 for his first assignment. He was later told he could earn more by paying a processing fee for special tasks. He lost Rs45.2 lakh from one bank account and Rs5 lakh from another, the Times of India reports.

In a separate case, a Bengaluru employee lost Rs1.07 crore over a year after fraudsters lured him with a Rs10-lakh insurance payout. The victim paid transaction charges and investment fees based on fake bank letters. He lodged a complaint on August 8 after realising he was duped.

The greedy-needy narrative misses the point: these scams succeed because fraudsters mimic legitimate gig economy patterns. Rs50 lakh and Rs1.07 crore are not small sums even for businessmen. The real failure is that banks still process lakhs without verifying the beneficiary's identity against KYC, and RBI's 2024 draft guidelines on mule accounts remain unimplemented. A simple test: does your bank call you to confirm every transaction above Rs10,000 to a new account? If not, the system is still the scammer's accomplice.
Sources (2): timesofindia.indiatimes.com, timesofindia.indiatimes.com (2)
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.