When a businessman from Goregaon recently checked his bank account, he discovered that only Rs 0.08 remained in his account. He then enquired with his 16-year-old daughter, who told him that she used to watch Instagram reels on her father’s phone and came across a woman who promised to increase her Instagram followers to 50k in exchange for money. The fraudster then induced the girl to use a QR code to transfer Rs 55,128 from her father’s bank account.
Complainant a student of Class X
According to the Vanrai police, the complainant (16), is a student of Class X. Since the victim does not have a mobile of her own, she used her father’s mobile and had also created her Instagram account on her father’s phone.
Fraudster approached victim assuring her increase in followers
On March 01, when the victim was watching Instagram reels on her father’s phone, she found that a woman had sent her a follow request. The victim accepted the said request and the said woman asked the victim if she wanted to get her followers increased.
The victim agreed, after which the fraudster told the victim that she would have to pay Rs 2,000 and in an hour after the payment is done, she would get 50k followers. The victim told the woman that she can only pay Rs 600 after which the woman told her that she would only get 10k followers in that much money.
Victim demanded money back
The woman then sent her a QR code and the victim then scanned the said QR code and made the payment from her father’s e-payment gateway, police said.
The fraudster then made the victim pay a total of Rs 55,128 from her father’s bank account and when the followers did not increase the victim demanded back her money. The fraudster then assured that she would credit the money back.