The ‘like-and-earn’ scam, believed to have been orchestrated by Chinese criminals, is on the rise with hundreds of cases being reported in the city. Cyber teams are currently working to track down the culprits. mid-day reached out to the fraudsters to uncover how the scam operates and how victims duped after being offered work-from-home opportunities refer other names to fraudsters. Here is everything you need to know about this racket.
 
Mid-Day reporters have been attempting to investigate this scam for the past three months, but fraudsters were unresponsive when approached directly. The scamsters have their own database of phone numbers procured from the dark web, or they rely on referrals from victims.

After a victim of the fraud, who had lost R27 lakh, recommended a mid-day reporter, the fraudsters reached out to the latter via a number, +62 838-6305-9272, believed to be from Indonesia. The reporter was then instructed to like three Google Arts & Culture links, which mainly displayed various ads for clothing, gold and jewellery.