Woman duped of Rs 15 lakh in 'work from home' fraud in Thane

THANE: A 37-year-old woman in Maharashtra's Thane district has allegedly lost Rs 15.14 lakh after being lured by some persons for a work-from-home opportunity promising high earnings, police said on Wednesday.

The fraudsters, including a woman, communicated with the victim, hailing from Dombivli town, between February and July last year. They provided her with access to the Telegram application and assigned her certain tasks to complete online, an official from Manpada police station said.

After assuring the victim of attractive returns for the work, the accused, over a period of time, allegedly took Rs 15,14,460 from her through various online transactions, he said.

When the victim did not get back the amount paid to the accused or the promised earnings, she lodged a police complaint against them.

The Manpada police on Tuesday registered an FIR against the three accused persons under relevant legal provisions. No arrest has been made so far, the official said.

At least five more persons were also cheated by the accused in the similar manner and a probe was on to verify it, the police added.