Beware: How Fraudsters Target Nepali Job Seekers!
Meet Mandeep Gurung, a 27-year-old seeker of better opportunities from Dhulikhel, Nepal. Back in January 2024, he made the bold move to Kathmandu with a heart full of hope and dreams of financial stability. But what he encountered was a whirlwind of job-hunting struggles that would test his resolve.
As the weight of supporting his family and paying the bills began to crush him, Mandeep stumbled upon a tantalizing Facebook ad promising a way out. “Earn up to Rs60,000 a month by doing simple tasks on your phone!” it boldly claimed, luring him with the prospect of easy cash.
For Mandeep, this golden opportunity was too enticing to resist. He quickly found himself in a Telegram group, welcomed by a charming ‘coordinator’ who turned out to be a fraudster masquerading as an employee of a well-known company.
The tasks laid out before him sounded harmless enough: liking websites, subscribing to YouTube channels, sharing promotional links. But there was a catch—Mandeep had to pay a ‘membership fee’ of Rs5,000 to get started.
“I hesitated at first,” Mandeep admitted, “but I thought, why not take a shot? They even paid me Rs1,000 for my initial task, which made it feel so real.”
Encouraged by that first payment and the coordinator’s smooth talk about doubling his income with more tasks, Mandeep continued to invest. Over the next month, he poured Rs25,000 into this scheme—the very money he had saved for rent.
It all came crashing down when the coordinator demanded he recruit five new participants. Suddenly, Mandeep found himself blocked from the Telegram group, left to grapple with the stark reality of his loss.
“I feel so ashamed,” he confessed. “I believed them because they made a small payment at first, but it was all a trap. My savings are gone, and now I’m lost.”
Unfortunately, Mandeep’s story is not an isolated incident. Employment fraud is on the rise, as highlighted by the Cyber Bureau’s spokesperson, Superintendent of Police Deepak Raj Awasthi. “These scams prey on vulnerability and trust. Victims are baited through platforms like Telegram, initially believing they’re engaged in legitimate tasks, only to be exploited,” he explained.
The numbers speak volumes. According to the Cyber Bureau, there has been an alarming uptick in cybercrimes, especially electronic transaction frauds. In the fiscal year 2022-23, more than 9,000 cybercrime cases were reported, with nearly 2,000 tied to electronic transaction fraud. By the next year, those numbers skyrocketed to over 19,700 cases, with fraud accounting for nearly 21% of the total.
As of the current fiscal year (2024-25), the trend continues, with 3,257 electronic transaction fraud cases already logged. Alarmingly, the majority fall under the category of ‘online job/loan’ scams, totaling 1,186 cases. Others include ‘online shopping’ scams and deceitful offers of foreign employment.
The spectrum of cyber scams is broad, ranging from fake e-commerce deals to phishing schemes that impersonate reputable companies. This year alone, electronic transaction scams have amassed a staggering value of Rs450 million.
Even the Financial Intelligence Unit has reported a sharp increase in suspicious transactions linked to fraud. The criminals are clever, luring victims through social media ads and drawing them into seemingly innocent Telegram groups where tasks appear legitimate. Initially, small payments are made to establish trust, only for the fraudsters to later demand larger sums under the guise of unlocking higher earnings.
“It’s a well-crafted scheme,” Awasthi said. “Once they gain your trust, they’ll ask for more money, and that’s when they vanish.”
Some victims unwittingly become participants in illegal activities, sharing their bank details with fake job posters or facilitating transactions they believe are legitimate. “They don’t realize they’re being roped into fraud until it’s too late,” Awasthi noted. “When the dust settles, they find themselves in the midst of a bigger mess while the scammers slip away.”
While the Cyber Bureau aims to assist victims and does not penalize them, the sheer volume of cases complicates their efforts. Telegram is the primary platform for these scams, and tracing the fraudsters has become increasingly difficult due to the lack of data provided by the app.
“Our focus is to track the flow of money through bank records,” Awasthi explained. “But often, when we reach out to the numbers tied to those accounts, they either go unanswered or are no longer in service. It gets even tougher when these fraudsters operate from outside Nepal.”
In a rapidly digitizing world, awareness of cybersecurity is lagging behind the technology. An alarming 70% of individuals involved in cyber fraud cases are between 19 and 30 years old, according to reports. Although many banks warn against lending out accounts for unauthorized purposes, the traps continue to ensnare unsuspecting victims.
“Even as 4G reaches remote areas, the understanding of internet risks hasn’t caught up,” Awasthi lamented. “We need the technology to be matched with awareness; otherwise, we’re opening the floodgates to cybercrime.”
While the Cyber Bureau investigates crime, Awasthi emphasizes the urgent need for a dedicated effort to raise public awareness about these critical issues at the grassroots level. “We can’t tackle this problem alone with limited resources,” he concluded.
