A 42-year-old man from Musheerabad was defrauded of over ₹35 lakh in an online scam that lured him with the promise of referral income from a fake rental platform.
The scam unfolded on July 21, 2025, when the victim received a WhatsApp message from two individuals identifying themselves as Nikitha Jeevan and Siva Prakash, allegedly from Kerala. Claiming to represent a platform called rent/steadylease.net, they offered him a referral job which involved posting local rental property listings in exchange for a share in lease profits, bonuses, and attractive returns after making a small initial deposit.
Persuaded by their assurances, the victim first deposited ₹10,000 and quickly received ₹10,748 in return. Encouraged by the quick payout, he made another transfer of ₹31,259 and again received the promised return. Convinced of the scheme’s legitimacy, he continued making payments in multiple transactions, amounting to a staggering ₹35,26,677.
However, after these transactions, the communication from the scammers changed. They stopped assigning any referral work and began pressuring him to pay an additional ₹12 lakh, claiming it was required to release a supposed security deposit. They threatened that failure to pay would result in forfeiture of the entire amount he had already invested.
Realising he was scammed, the man approached the cyber crime police station in Hyderabad, and lodged a complaint. A case was booked and investigation is under way.
Published – August 05, 2025 08:06 pm IST
