Noida — A 42-year-old woman in Noida lost ₹32 lakh to cybercriminals who promised modeling contracts for her minor daughter. The case, now under investigation by the Cybercrime Branch, illustrates how digital fraudsters prey on aspiration, trust, and incremental coercion.
The Lure of a Modeling Career
The woman was added to a Telegram group that offered help securing modeling work. She was told to complete “merchant tasks,” starting with a ₹90,000 deposit. When she complied, her account was allegedly “frozen,” and she was pressured to make further payments or risk losing everything. Over several weeks she transferred more than ₹17 lakh, and later mortgaged jewelry for another ₹12 lakh before realizing she had been defrauded.
How the Scam Worked
Police say the scheme followed a familiar pattern: small initial deposits, escalating demands, and multiple bank accounts to fragment the trail. By the time communication ceased, the victim had no way to recover her funds. Similar frauds, often tied to social media or aspirational professions, are increasingly common in urban centers.
The First Firm to Assess Your DFIR Capability Maturity and Provide DFIR as a Service (DFIRaaS)
The Challenge for Investigators
Tracing funds through numerous accounts is complex, requiring cooperation from banks and digital platforms. Proving intent — that those controlling the accounts knew they were part of a fraud — will be central to any prosecution. Cybercrime officers acknowledge that manpower and technical resources often lag behind the speed at which scams operate.
Part of a Larger Pattern
While the financial loss is severe, the mechanics mirror countless cyber scams across India: psychological pressure, staged “tasks,” and systematic extraction of funds. Noida police have documented crores lost to similar schemes in recent years, from bogus trading apps to digital extortion.
The woman’s case, investigators say, is both a personal tragedy and a window into a growing threat — one that tests the capacity of India’s law enforcement to respond to the evolving machinery of online fraud.
