Gullible youths fall prey to online job scams

Fraudsters resort to mimicking pages of popular websites, hoodwinking unsuspecting victims

A young B.Tech graduate in Kochi of Kerala recently received a lucrative part-time job offer through SMS promising quick bucks with little effort in the name of a global e-commerce giant. The fraudster claimed to represent a company engaged in enhancing the sales and popularity of certain products listed on the e-commerce portal. The youngster was asked to transfer half the price of the chosen products to a mobile wallet, while the company claimed to donate the other half with a promise to reimburse him the full amount plus commission later. On payment, he was given the link of the products to place the order. Though he was told that it helped increase the sale of the products, in reality, no products were bought, and even the links themselves were fake.