HYDERABAD: A 40-year-old dentist from Hayathnagar was cheated of Rs 22.41 lakh in a part-time job fraud in which she was lured into posting fake hotel reviews on Google. Police said the victim came across a part-time job advertisement on January 1 and, upon clicking it, was redirected to a Telegram group where she was initially assigned hotel review tasks and received small payments, including Rs 180 for completing 18 reviews.
Later, she was introduced to prepaid “investment tasks” promising higher returns, such as paying Rs 800 and receiving Rs 1,040. After receiving initial profits, she was persuaded to invest larger amounts through a fake Amazon-themed platform.
A handler, Thangadurai Mrugan, guided her through the tasks and displayed false profits. Subsequently, her account was shown as frozen and she was threatened with loss of funds unless additional payments were made, citing errors and low credit score.