Government mandates Google to pull down fraudulent 'work-from-home' job advertisements

The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), operating under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), has ordered Google to remove 15 advertiser pages from its Ads Transparency platform that were allegedly promoting a fraudulent “pencil-packing” work-from-home scheme.

The directive, issued via a notice dated November 28, pertains to advertisements that were reportedly impersonating Hindustan Pencil Pvt. Ltd. The fraudulent ads promised easy work-from-home opportunities with purported monthly earnings between ₹30,000 and ₹40,000, claims the I4C labeled as fabricated attempts to lure individuals into financial deception.

The agency stated that the ads violate provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, and sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The notice specifically mandates Google, as an intermediary, to disable access to the listed URLs within 36 hours of communication, citing non-compliance risk under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act, which governs the removal of unlawfully hosted content.

The I4C highlighted that the impersonation of a well-known domestic manufacturer to promote unrealistic earnings exposes individuals to potential financial losses. This incident emphasizes the increasing use of paid advertising tools on large intermediary platforms to execute job-fraud scams and reach a wider audience.