Mumbai: In a shocking case of cyber fraud, Marathi comedian Sagar Karande (45) was duped of ₹61.83 lakh after falling prey to a task fraud scam. Mumbai’s North Cyber Police Station has registered a case and launched an investigation to trace the fraudsters.
Karande, who resides in Thakur Village, Kandivali East, with his wife and daughter, filed a complaint detailing the incident. According to his statement, he received a WhatsApp message on February 23 from an unknown number. The message began with, “Hi, how are you?” When Karande responded, the sender introduced herself as Meena Sakpal from Espilon Company.
She lured him into the scam by offering ₹150 per Instagram video like, claiming he could earn up to ₹6,000 per day working from home. Believing the offer, Karande began liking videos. She then sent him a Telegram link and a promo code to begin the tasks. To gain his trust, the fraudsters even credited ₹22,000 into his bank account.
Karande was added to a Telegram group, where he began receiving links and messages related to paid tasks. He was later introduced to high-value “merchant tasks” with the promise of larger returns.
