CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Police Cyber Crime unit arrested a 27-year-old woman from Bengaluru on Wednesday for allegedly defrauding a Chennai resident of Rs 4.62 lakh through a fake part-time job scheme, a year ago.

The victim, Lakshmi (26), an employee at a private company in Mannadi, filed a complaint at the East Zone Cyber Crime Police Station on June 13, 2024.

She reported receiving an Instagram message on June 5, 2024, offering part-time work. Clicking the link led her to a Telegram group where an unidentified person promised earnings for completing simple tasks.

After initially receiving small profits for completed tasks, Lakshmi was convinced to transfer a total of Rs 4,62,130 to various bank accounts for ‘larger tasks’. When no further payment materialised, she realised she had been scammed.

Following a technical analysis of bank accounts, phone numbers, email IDs, IP addresses, and network user IDs, investigators traced the suspect to Karnataka.

A special team led by the East Zone Cyber Crime Inspector arrested the accused, Lilly Pushpa (27), in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

Police seized one mobile phone and two ATM cards from Pushpa, who works at a private company in Bengaluru. After interrogation, she was produced before a court and remanded to judicial custody.