Man Loses Rs.35 L in Job Fraud

Hyderabad: A 42-year-old man from Musheerabad lost over Rs.35 lakh in a fake rental referral job scam operated through WhatsApp. Fraudsters, posing as representatives of a platform named rent/steadylease.net, lured the victim with promises of high earnings for posting local rental listings.

Police said the victim received a WhatsApp message on July 21 from individuals identifying themselves as Nikitha Jeevan and Siva Prakash from Kerala. They offered him a referral-based job involving the posting of rental property listings and promised commission, bonuses and lease profits.

The victim first deposited Rs.10,000 and received Rs.10,748 in return. Encouraged, he invested Rs.31,259 and again got a small profit. Drawn in by these gains, he made several more transactions, transferring a total of Rs.35,26,677. After receiving the bulk of the money, the fraudsters stopped assigning referral work, refused to return the amount and demanded an additional Rs.12 lakh, threatening to forfeit the earlier sum.

Realising he had been duped, the victim approached the Hyderabad cyber crime police. Officials have urged the public to be cautious of fake job offers via WhatsApp, avoid making advance payments for online jobs, and report suspicious activity immediately by calling 1930 or visiting cybercrime.gov.in.

Man held for theft, ammo possession

Hyderabad: Meerpet police arrested a 38-year-old man for allegedly stealing a mobile phone and possessing illegal ammunition on Monday. Inspector Chandrashekhar said the accused, Angoth Bharat Naik, allegedly entered his neighbour’s house during the night of Monday and stole a mobile phone.

Following a complaint, police detained Naik and searched his residence, recovering the stolen phone and a live 8mm cartridge hidden in a bag. The accused claimed he had found the ammunition on a road in Gachibowli while on his way to work.

Police said he was a repeat offender with previous theft and NDPS cases under the Serilingampally police limits.