HYDERABAD: A 26-year-old nurse from ECIL lost ₹9,03,400 in an alleged online job scam after fraudsters lured her with promises of commission for completing promotional tasks on e-commerce platforms.
According to the complaint filed with Jawahar Nagar police station, the victim, a nurse working at Government Hospital and residing at Kapra in Medchal-Malkajgiri district, received a WhatsApp message on March 1, 2026 from an unknown international number.
The sender, identifying herself as "Niharika", claimed to represent an e-commerce company associated with product promotions on Flipkart and Amazon. She offered the complainant a part-time job promising a commission of 20-40 per cent for completing online tasks.
Victim's trust
Police said the complainant was added to a WhatsApp group titled "Daily Data Task", where she was instructed to complete assignments and share screenshots as proof.
After completing the first three tasks, she received ₹300 in her bank account, which convinced her that the work was genuine.
Later, she was assigned a "Newcomer Task" and asked to pay ₹2,000 with a promise of ₹3,000 in return. She created an account on a website, freelan9.space, and managed to withdraw ₹1,600 in total.
Larger investments under VIP tasks
Subsequently, the suspects introduced a "VIP Task" and asked her to invest ₹4,000, which she transferred. The fraudsters then continued to demand additional payments on the pretext of completing PIN-related tasks and enabling withdrawals.
Later, they claimed her account had been deactivated and demanded ₹1,00,000 to reactivate it. Believing the assurances, she transferred the amount.
Police said the victim was later persuaded to transfer another ₹2,00,000 and ₹2,58,400 for additional tasks that supposedly would allow her to withdraw the accumulated earnings.
Victim realised fraud after demand for further deposit
The suspects eventually demanded that she deposit 50 per cent of the total invested amount to regain control of the account and withdraw funds.
Realising she had been cheated, the complainant stopped making further payments and approached the police.
In total, she transferred ₹9,05,000 in 12 transactions. After deducting the ₹1,600 she initially received, the victim suffered a net loss of ₹9,03,400.
Police have registered a case and initiated an investigation into the online fraud.