A startling incident has emerged from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, where a couple residing in the Aditya World City colony fell prey to an online scam. The couple, Manoj Upadhyay and his wife Anjali Sharma, were lured by a young man who engaged them in sweet conversations, eventually leading them to invest substantial amounts of money. Upon learning of the situation, the police were taken aback. Here's the full story: The couple was deceived out of ₹3.68 lakhs by online fraudsters who promised part-time work through Telegram, tricking them into investing under the guise of completing tasks.

Previously employed at a Noida company, Manoj and Anjali lost their jobs last month and began searching for online part-time opportunities. They were added to a Telegram group that claimed to offer commissions for completing tasks related to Meesho online shopping.

Initially, after completing a task worth ₹100, they received ₹200 in return. Encouraged by this, they invested ₹500 and received ₹1,000 back. Their trust grew, prompting them to continue investing more money into various tasks. However, after a while, the payments were halted under various pretexts.

When they reached out to customer service on the Telegram group, they were informed that they needed to complete 20 tasks to retrieve their funds. Unfortunately, after completing 17 tasks, the tasks ceased to arrive. Despite repeated complaints, they received no assistance. In total, the couple transferred ₹3,68,100 to different bank accounts.

Realizing they had been scammed, they filed a report at the Wave City police station. The police have registered a case under Section 418(4) of the Indian Penal Code (criminal breach of trust) and Section 66D of the IT Act (cheating by misuse of computer resources).