A 44-year-old contractor in Pune lost Rs 11 lakh after he fell for an online scam that dangled Rs 25 lakh in front of him just for impregnating a woman.
It all started when he spotted a bizarre video ad on social media in early September. The ad came from a company calling itself ‘Pregnant Job.’ In the clip, a woman said in Hindi, “I want a man who’ll make me a mother. I’ll pay him Rs 25 lakh. I don’t care about his education, caste, or looks.”
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Fake ‘Pregnant Job’ Offer Cheats Pune Contractor
Tempted, the man called the number flashing on the screen. Someone picked up, introduced himself as an assistant from ‘Pregnant Job,’ and said he’d need to register and get an official ID card before landing the ‘job,’ according to The Indian Express.
From there, the demands continued to come. Registration fees. An ID card. Verification. GST. TDS. Processing charges. The man paid up over 100 small online transactions between early September and October 23 until the total hit Rs 11 lakh.
But after weeks of sending money, he started asking questions. Suddenly, the scammers blocked his number. No more calls, no more messages. That’s when it hit him he’d been scammed. He went to Baner police, who registered an FIR and started tracking the phone numbers and bank accounts the scammers used.
“The victim was manipulated with fake promises and a sense of urgency,” an investigating officer told The Indian Express. “We’re tracking the fraudsters’ digital traces.”
Police Probe Expands as ‘Pregnant Job’ Scams Target Men Across India
Turns out, this isn’t an isolated case. Cybercrime experts in Pune say these scams have been popping up all over India since late 2022. The trick’s always the same: scammers use social media videos with women offering big payouts for so-called ‘pregnancy jobs,’ usually under names like ‘Pregnant Job Service.’
Victims end up paying for non-existent medical tests, legal paperwork, security deposits whatever the scammers can dream up. Once the money’s gone, so are the fraudsters.
Police in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have already made arrests, uncovering bigger cybercrime networks hiding behind these fake ads and luring people with money and fake promises.
