‘Everyone A Target’: Zerodha CEO Nithin Kamath Warns After Friend Gets Scammed

Zerodha founder and CEO Nithin Kamath on Wednesday narrated how his friend lost Rs 5 lakh after falling for a part-time job offer he received on WhatsApp, Kamath also shared that the offer promised big numbers as a paycheck for doing an easy task. In a lengthy Twitter thread, he said that the CEO knows someone who got scammed and lost money.

“It started with a response to a part-time job offer on WhatsApp. The first few tasks were about leaving fake reviews for resorts and restaurants in random places like Peru. About Rs 30,000 was transferred to the bank for the tasks completed,” he wrote.

He continued and mentioned that after the task, there was another one where a Telegram group was created with others to do these tasks. “The next task for the group was to trade on a mock crypto platform, following a bunch of rules. Profits generated were allowed to be withdrawn, even without transferring any real money,” Kamath added.

Kamath also revealed that those weren’t Bitcoin or Ethereum but some random crypto tokens whose prices fraudsters could easily manipulate. He continued and mentioned that the group was then asked to transfer real money to generate higher returns. Others in the group who claimed to transfer also nudged his friend to do it as well.

The Zerodha CEO shared that his friend didn’t see it as a risk as Rs 30,000 was transferred through the platform and greed took over. “More money was transferred, probably due to peer pressure from others in the group who claimed to have made large transfers and profits,” he added.

When his friend tried to withdraw, they couldn’t and was also told by the platform that a certain number of traders was required. “The fear of being unable to withdraw the money took over, and more money was added to the trade. This amounted to Rs 5 lakh, a large amount for any person,” he added.

When the person had no more money to add, the platform offered a loan but they finally decided to share it with the spouse about the situation who immediately understood that it was a fraud. They then reached out to the police for help.

Kamath also mentioned that the account looked like a real crypto account with all the features but it turned out to be fake and was manipulated including the Telegram group. He also shared that price movements of crypto were also manipulated to generate profits and sow greed at the start.

When the couple spoke to police, the official shared that in many cases, even well-educated folks were caught under the radar of such sophisticated scams. He concluded by cautioning everyone and said, “Everyone is a target, and we need to create awareness.” Kamath also shared a piece of advice and stated that it is important to remember that “there is no easy way to make a lot of money quickly.”

Read all the Latest Business News, Tax News and Stock Market Updates here