Mangaluru: A 44-year-old woman was allegedly cheated of Rs 18.2 lakh by a group of unidentified persons who lured her with a work-from-home job and a gold marketing project, according to a complaint registered at CEN Crime police station.The complainant said that in April this year, she came across an advertisement on an app offering a work-from-home job in the name of a leading global technology and IT services company. She contacted the mobile number provided in the advertisement.The accused allegedly promised her a work-from-home job, a laptop and a monthly salary of up to Rs 30,000. On various dates, they collected a total of Rs 2,87,728 from her through Google Pay, citing application fees, software installation charges and other expenses.
The accused subsequently allegedly lured her into a gold marketing project, promising high returns and assuring her that the gold ornaments handed over for verification would be safely returned. Believing them, the woman handed over 212.5g of gold ornaments in two instalments, valued at approximately Rs 15,40,745.However, the accused allegedly failed to return the jewellery and instead demanded more money and gold. On Sept 25, they allegedly contacted her via WhatsApp and initially demanded Rs 1.5 lakh, then at least another Rs 75,000.The complainant alleged that the accused, identified as Surya, Chaitra and others, acted as an organised group and cheated her of cash and gold.
