Mumbai woman loses over ₹90 lakh after online scammers coerce her with morphed photos

A woman from Mumbai’s Bhandup area was allegedly defrauded of ₹90.79 lakhs by imposters for nearly three years between 2023 and 2025 on pretext of a ‘data entry’ job, following which the East Region Cyber Police filed an extortion case against unknown suspects.

It began in 2023 when the woman was looking for a job and came across a data entry job opportunity online. After responding to an advertisement, she was informed that she could secure a data entry position provided she paid certain charges, such as a registration fee and GST.

Desperate for a job, the woman agreed and filled up a form that the scammers sent her via social media and said that any payments made—whether for registration or GST—would be non-refundable, according to the FIR.

Trusting their claims, the woman filled the form and three days after making the first payment, she received a WhatsApp call from a woman to discuss the data entry job. The caller claimed to be the owner of the company and asserted that under the company’s policy, she was obligated to make further payments. She even threatened to file a police complaint if the woman failed to pay.

Driven by fear, the victim began making payments, a process that continued from 2023 through December 2024. Subsequently, in 2025, another woman contacted the victim and persistently demanded further payments. The perpetrator threatened to file a police complaint if the money was not paid. Furthermore, the woman was threatened that her photographs would be misused and uploaded to social media.

According to the police, the perpetrators of the scam targeted multiple women in a similar manner by luring them into jobs and then threatening them to pay up or releasing their edited obscene photographs to their relatives and phone contacts.

Between 2023 and 2026, the scammers coerced the woman from Bhandup into paying over ₹90 lakh. Even after these payments, she continued to be pressured for more money. She eventually informed her father about the situation, which led to the discovery of the fraud.

The woman approached the East Regional Police Station, and based on her complaint on Wednesday, the police registered a case against five unidentified individuals.

The police are now trying to trace the accused with the help of her transactions to them.