A 42-year-old software professional from Maharashtra’s Thane district lost Rs 17.2 lakh after he was scammed by two persons who promised him easy money through a “part-time” job, an official said on Thursday.

A man and a woman got in touch with the complainant, who is employed with a top Indian IT firm, on August 3 and offered him a part-time job related to hotel bookings, the official said.

The duo sent him a link through the Telegram app to carry out the job, the police said.

The techie was first told to make some payment towards registration. The duo then smooth-talked him to pay more on some pretext or the other promising him easy money.

After extracting Rs 17.28 lakh from the IT professional over the next few days, the duo became evasive when he asked them about the money promised to him, the official said.

Based on a complaint from the techie, the Ambernath police on Tuesday registered a case under the IT Act. The police gave the names of the accused as Rahul Sharma and Sneha.

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