Child modelling scam: Bengaluru woman loses ₹3.74 lakh after clicking fake Facebook link

A mother from Vidyaranyapura was trapped in a child-model recruitment scam that began with a Facebook advertisement and ended with cybercriminals siphoning off her savings in multiple stages.

A woman from Vidyaranyapura in Bengaluru was defrauded of ₹3,74,000 after cybercriminals trapped her through a fake child-modelling advertisement circulating on social media. The victim, identified as Suma, had come across an online ad seeking child models and clicked on a link promoting a modelling platform named Little Nest.

The link, “facebook.comshake/1ce3gmmyuel”, redirected her to a Facebook page claiming to recruit children for modelling projects. Believing the ad to be genuine, she shared her child’s details as requested. Soon after, an unknown individual contacted her and sent another link asking her to join a Telegram group for the “next steps” in the supposed modelling process.

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Once added to the group, the administrators allegedly assigned her small “tasks” and instructed her to transfer ₹11,000 as an initial processing fee. To win her trust, the scammers later credited ₹19,000 back to her account, posing it as a reward for completing the first task. This tactic convinced her that the modelling assignment was legitimate.

Over the next several interactions, the cybercriminals escalated their demands and persuaded her to make multiple transfers. In a series of transactions, they managed to siphon off a total of ₹3.74 lakh from her bank account.

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When the promised modelling assignment never materialised and further communication stopped, Suma realised she had been cheated. She subsequently approached the police and filed a complaint at the Vidyaranyapura Police Station.

Police have registered a cyber-fraud case and initiated an investigation into the fake modelling platform, the Facebook page, and the Telegram group linked to the incident.