Gurugram, May 13 (PTI) A software engineer working with an IT company here was allegedly duped of around Rs 42 lakh by scammers who lured him into earning handsome money by liking some videos, police said on Saturday.

The man was added to a group on the Telegram Messenger app and asked to invest, but later he was not allowed to withdraw that sum.

Also Read | Jayanagar Election Result 2023: Ruckus at Counting Centre Over Recounting of Votes Following Sowmya Reddy’s Reported Victory, DK Shivakumar Arrives at Scene (Watch Videos).

According to a complaint filed by a resident of Sector 102 here, on March 24, he received a message on his WhatsApp, claiming that he can earn extra income by doing a part-time job of liking videos on video sharing platform YouTube.

"When I agreed to work with them, a woman named Divya added me to a group on Telegram app. She asked me to invest money with the claim of assured better returns. On the pretext of a task, they had asked me to invest and I transferred a total of Rs 42,31,600 from mine and my wife's bank accounts," the complainant said.

Also Read | PM Narendra Modi's Charisma Is Coming to an End, Says Congress Leader Manickrao Thakre After Party's Victory in Karnataka.

"Besides Divya, other people named Kamal, Ankit, Bhoomi, Harsh confirmed the transaction and soon after told me that I have earned Rs 69 lakh plus profit. But they did not allow me to withdraw the money. They then asked me to transfer Rs 11,000 more, which seemed fishy to me and I moved to police," he added.

An FIR was registered against unknown fraudsters under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology (IT) Act at cybercrime, west police station on Friday.

A senior police officer said they have sought the bank details and a probe is underway.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)