SURAT: A 34-year-old resident from Pal was cheated of Rs 7.88 lakh by cyber crooks.

Victim Yogesh Bokde, a travel agent by profession, was lured with bitcoin trading task to earn money from part-time work.

It all began with a innocuous message over WhatsApp that proved costly for him.

He started losing huge amount to the crooks even as Surat cybercrime police booked 12 unknown persons for duping Bokde.Bokde runs a travel agency from his home in Pal area and on August 3, he received a message from a woman named Aishwarya.

She identified herself from Bloomberg India Ltd and offered Bokde Google map and YouTube subscription tasks to earn more money while sitting at home.

After he agreed, a telegram channel link was sent to him for the tasks.

During registration on the said link, he was asked to give account details as he had given bank details of his wife.

Initially, the crooks deposited Rs 150 and Rs 750 for different online YouTube subscription tasks in his bank account to win his confidence.

After that, Bokde was taken to premium paid task for which he was asked to deposit money.

He was told that he would earn more over bitcoin tasks.

He was sent one more link for registration and told to transfer money.

Bokde kept on transferring money to the tune of Rs 7.88 lakh, but could withdraw only Rs 3,850 in different transactions.

During August 3 to 6, he transferred Rs 2,000, Rs 71,400, Rs 1,39,200, Rs 1,76,500, Rs 1,50,000, Rs 50,000, Rs 1,99,000 and Rs 356 in different bank accounts as directed by the crooks.

The money was transferred to ICICI, PNB, SBI bank accounts.

After the crooks still asked for more money, he called the cyber helpline on 1930 and registered a complaint.

Following that complaint, a formal FIR was registered with cybercrime police against 12 persons on November 20.

We also published the following articles recentlyEngineer loses Rs 18 lakh to crooks in online task fraudA Pune engineer lost Rs 18.16 lakh in just two weeks to cybercrooks who promised him good earnings by performing online tasks.

The engineer responded to a text message on a messenger app and was added to a group where he was given tasks and earned some money.

However, when he tried to withdraw his earnings, the crooks asked him to invest more and he ended up transferring a total of Rs 18.16 lakh to their bank accounts.'Money-for-task' scams multiply to 362 cases this yr, just 51 solvedThe city of Mumbai has experienced an increase in job scams this year, with scammers taking advantage of the cost-of-living crisis and targeting individuals looking to supplement their income.

The scams involve rewarding victims per task and then luring them to invest in the company to continue earning.

The Mumbai cyber crime report shows a significant rise in scam numbers, with 362 people falling victim in 2023 compared to 119 in 2021.

The police have a low detection rate, solving just 51 cases in 2023.

Scammers typically initiate contact through unsolicited messages on platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram, offering work-from-home opportunities.Will retire from politics, if proved I have taken money in single case of transfer: Karnataka CM SiddaramaiahKarnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has stated that he will retire from politics if it is proven that he has taken money in any transfer case of government officials.

This comes in response to attacks by JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy, who has accused Siddaramaiah and his son of involvement in a "cash for transfer" racket.

Siddaramaiah has denied the allegations and criticized Kumaraswamy for the same issue occurring during his tenure as Chief Minister.