Chandrapur woman loses Rs 5.57 lakh in work-from-home product rating scam

A 32-year-old woman in Chandrapur has been defrauded of Rs 5,57,211 in a cyber fraud carried out in the name of "work from home" and product rating. A case has been registered at the Chandrapur cyber police station. Fraudsters luring highly educated young people and homemakers with offers of online jobs have been increasing in number, and this is a major example of it.

The woman holds a BE (Electronics) degree. She is the wife of an officer working as deputy engineer at the Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Station (CSTPS). Living in the CSTPS colony at Urjanagar, the homemaker was looking for a job or work she could do from home. She had uploaded her biodata on several social media platforms, including Google and LinkedIn.

On September 23, 2026, she received a message on Telegram from a woman named Sarika Agarwal. She said she was an agent of an international company called "MODA OPERANDI", which promotes luxury fashion and lifestyle products in New York. She also lured the complainant with the promise of attractive commission for rating the company's products online.

To win her trust, a working account was first created for the complainant. On September 28 and 29, she was made to deposit some amounts, and in return Rs 17,526 and Rs 36,189 along with commission were credited to her bank account. This convinced her. She was then enticed with the prospect of maximum commission and made to deposit money in stages into different UPI IDs and bank accounts.

Between September 28 and October 6, 2026, the woman transferred a total of Rs 5,57,211 from her Bank of Maharashtra and State Bank of India accounts to the accused's accounts. Her working account then showed commission of Rs 12 lakh. However, when she tried to withdraw the amount, the transaction did not go through. The accused, Sarika Agarwal, then contacted her and set a condition that a further Rs 4,93,206 would have to be paid, only after which the full amount would be credited to her account.

The demand for additional money, and the fact that she did not get commission back as before, made the complainant realise she had been cheated. She immediately contacted the cyber helpline 1930 and lodged an online complaint. On October 12, she then went in person to the cyber police station in Chandrapur and filed a complaint.

On the basis of the complaint, cyber police have registered a case against the accused woman Sarika Agarwal (Telegram ID: @sarika_a82) and her other associates under Sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the Information Technology Act along with the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Police Inspector Sunil Vitthalrao Gade is investigating the case further.