Part-time job and task scam

How it works

You are offered money to like videos or review hotels, and the first small payments are real. Then "prepaid tasks" ask you to deposit money to unlock bigger earnings, which you never get back.

Red flags

• !A job offer from a number you do not know, with no interview.
• !Pay that is high for almost no work.
• !The first few small payments really do arrive.
• !You are then asked to deposit money to unlock a bigger task or to withdraw.
• !Everything happens on Telegram or WhatsApp, with no company you can verify.

Example

The early payments are bait. They are small compared with the deposit that comes next.

This is an illustration of the pattern, not a copy of a real message. Real ones vary in wording.

What to do

1. 01Stop at the first request to deposit money. No real job asks you to pay to earn.
2. 02Do not send more to “release” what you have already put in.
3. 03Take screenshots of the chat, the group and your payments.
4. 04Call 1930 and file a complaint on the cyber crime portal.
5. 05Report and leave the group.

Where to report

• Your bank

  Call the number printed on the back of your card or shown in your bank’s own app, and ask them to block the card or account and dispute the transaction.

• Call 1930

  The national cyber-fraud helpline. If money has left your account, call straight away — the sooner it is reported, the better the chance of the money being frozen.

  Call 1930

• National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal

  File a complaint online at cybercrime.gov.in. Keep the acknowledgement number it gives you.

  Open cybercrime.gov.in

• Sanchar Saathi (Chakshu)

  Report the suspicious call, SMS or WhatsApp number to the Department of Telecommunications, even if you lost nothing.

  Open sancharsaathi.gov.in