Ahmedabad: A 24-year-old BCA student has alleged that he was duped of Rs 9.6 lakh in an online task scam after fraudsters lured him into completing Amazon product-ranking assignments through WhatsApp and Telegram groups. A complaint was registered with the Cybercrime police on Sunday.The student was reportedly added to a WhatsApp group without his consent on Oct 8. The group promised earnings in exchange for completing online tasks. Seeking additional income, he followed instructions to share screenshots of Amazon product listings.According to the complaint, the fraudsters collected his personal details and Telegram username before adding him to groups offering product-ranking assignments. To gain his trust, they initially transferred Rs 160 as a reward.The following day, the student was introduced to prepaid tasks and asked to transfer money through QR codes. He first paid Rs 1,024 and was subsequently directed to online portals and Telegram groups where he was repeatedly asked to deposit money to unlock higher-value assignments. In one instance, he paid Rs 5,800 to complete a task.When he attempted to withdraw his earnings, the operators allegedly claimed he had made an error and froze his account. They then demanded additional payments under the guise of taxes, insurance, and account-unblocking fees.The student managed to withdraw Rs 2,000 during the initial stages, which reinforced his confidence in the scheme. However, subsequent withdrawal requests were met with fresh demands for money. His suspicions were raised on Oct 21 when he received an email asking him to pay another Rs 52,000 to recover his funds.He then contacted the cybercrime helpline. The complaint states that he lost Rs 9.6 lakh between Oct 9 and Oct 21.
