Cyber crooks dupe man of Rs 12.77 lakh

Berhampur: A 49-year-old man from Tulasi Nagar here lost around Rs 12.77 lakh to cyber crooks in an online share trading fraud in six days from Jan 8 to 13.The crooks allegedly offered good returns on his investment in stocks and took the money from his different bank accounts. The victim, an employee of a private company here, filed a complaint with the cyber crime and economic offences police station here, said Shankar Panda, inspector-in-charge of cyber police station.While browsing investment-related contents in social media sites, the man found a link promising exclusive trading. After being verified and speaking to officials over WhatsApp chats, he started trusting them.The cyber scammers, who posed as officials of the investment company, had instructed him to follow some instructions. They had also promised high returns on his investment.Police sources said he was added to a group of investors on the mobile phone messaging group app in the first week of Jan. He was trained in trading and told to invest through different bank accounts under the pretext of buying shares.The victim transferred around Rs 12.77 lakh to the bank accounts in phases manner and found he was earning a good profit in the app. “When he tried to withdraw his money, the crook cited various reasons and asked him to transfer more money. Realising that he was scammed, he filed a complaint in the cyber police station.Police said online investment scams are on the rise as investors want to get high and quick returns on their investment and warned people against such lucrative schemes. “Always verify the authenticity of trading platforms and refrain from making transactions based on unsolicited advice from unknown sources,” said SP (Berhampur) Saravana Vivek M.