Gaming The System: Dubious app dupes scores of youth in hyderabad

Hyderabad : A youth of Silver Springs Colony in Chintal recently lost Rs 10 lakh in online gaming. Similarly, several others who made deposits in it were in for a rude shock when they found out that the gaming app has been shut down.

Several youngsters who have deposited their pocket money and savings, some others, who even sold laptops and took credits from friends, are unable to face their parents. Following their complaints in September, the Cybercrime cops have been on their toes to crack the case.

As many as 35 friends aged between 18 and 21 years installed a gaming application called E-Nuggets, the gaming application which lured the users to deposit money to earn more money. Exactly after 7 days, when students deposited higher amounts up to Rs 10,000, the application started showing error and finally it completely turned inactive. It has become a tough task for the cops to zero in on the organisers of the online fraud.

Shedding tears, a student Aaravind Yadav said, "Apps like this are trapping youngsters and students to earn easy money by investing small amounts. Students and youngsters are investing their pocket money and savings in such apps and fraudsters are shutting down as soon as they achieve their targets."

Explaining how they gained trust to play the game, Yadav said that, "There will be a coordinator to ping you in whatsapp and tell you about the gaming app (E Nuggets) and manipulates you to install and play by depositing small amounts. He will also tell how youngsters are earning lots of money on daily basis and convinces users to play with huge amounts. In the end when the users try to access the app, server issues are observed. Calls will not be answered and money is blocked for a week. Then by the we realise the fraud, our money is gone." "Unfortunately, private banks are also participating in such scams, such as Federal Bank in E Nuggets scam.

A lot of people have lost their money in this scam and a very high amount of money is deposited with Federal Bank in Kolkata," said Sonu Kashyup, another victim of E Nuggets scam.

Expressing his pain, Kadari Sai Krishna said "I've deposited all my savings with greed as in lockdown we were jobless and were in need of money and faced financial crises. We believed in such apps and lost a lot of money. I have deposited 1000 and I got 1800 back. Then I deposited 10,000 after a week and I lost it all. The app is completely shut now."

Countless students have lost their savings in online gambling this 2020 with the addiction to video games. However, video gaming sector turned out as a fast growing sector and is projected to reach revenues of $159.3 billion in 2020 alone.

Commenting on online gaming frauds, Alekya Satish, an advocate, said, "Online gaming apps encouraging students to play with money and finally leading to gambling is completely an illegal activity in India as per Public Gambling Act, 1867. There are a few rules that need to be followed but none of the gaming applications is following the rules and regulations."