The number of fake social media profiles created by fraudsters in the name of Kerala youths for operating online job fraud is on the rise.
Data entry work, now being touted as one of the easiest work-from-home job options for housewives, continues to be the biggest clickbait in the virtual space .
Preliminary probe by the police has found that several social media profiles of individuals and organisations had been recently recreated by fraudsters to interact with their target group and send them private messages. Unlike the conventional trickery of asking money directly, they offer data entry works with a lucrative monthly income and then ask for a processing fee to credit salary to the account.
Police sources confirmed the involvement of youths from Kerala in the fraud. Though a few suspects from Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh have already been netted, those from Kerala have not been arrested.
The magnitude of the fraud came to light after the police exposed a major case recently in Thrissur district. The complainant had lost ₹35,100 that he had paid as processing fee for clearing some income tax formalities as demanded by the online job provider. He made the payment as he had completed the assigned data entry work expecting a big remuneration.
“There are many agencies that offer trustworthy data entry jobs for eligible persons. But they never ask for any processing fee to credit salary to the account. Many a time, fraudsters work like professional agencies in their preliminary communications and change track after winning victims’ trust,” said a police officer who was part of the investigation into recent such cases in Kozhikode district.
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