KOCHI: The Kerala Police have sounded caution against a scam wherein people are being offered the job of packing pencils on ‘work from home’ basis. The advisory, posted on the Kerala Police’s social media handles, requested people to stay away from such advertisements that are posted online.
Said a Facebook post by the police: “The advertisements are circulated in the name of a leading pencil manufacturing company offering jobs that let people earn lakhs of rupees from home. Contact numbers are given in the advertisements. It has been noticed the numbers vary with each advertisement.”
It said people contacting the given numbers via WhatsApp are asked to pay registration fees through UPI. “It is seen that the fraudsters send even fake ID cards, carrying the name and emblems of pencil manufacturers, to the victims. Later, they ask for more money as courier charge and address verification,” it said.
The post said Nataraj, the flagship brand of Hindustan Pencils Pvt Ltd, has termed such advertisements fake, and clarified that they were not recruiting people through this modus.
Officials with the Kerala Police’s Cyberdome said advertisements about the fake job are being circulated via Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram. In recent months, there have been cases of people in Kerala falling victims to the scam.
“The scam was first detected in 2022. However, cases have been reported in Kerala recently. Tracking the fraudsters behind the scam is difficult as they are using ID cards, bank accounts and SIM cards of other people. Numerous cases were reported in other states in recent months,” said an official, adding that sadly, people continue to get duped despite numerous awareness campaigns.