Hyderabad: A 51-year-old management professional from Miyapur lost 1.26 crore to fraudsters operating an online stock trading scam.
According to the Cyberabad cybercrime police, who registered a case on Friday, the complainant clicked on a Facebook advertisement, and joined a WhatsApp group, ‘F302-Achintya Wealth Strategy Circle', on Jan 9. The forum, led by a fraudster posing as Prof Arpit Agarwal, claimed to train members in stock trading. Another fraudster, Sonam, posing as operations manager, contacted the victim and told him to install an Android app, ‘BFSI@ACHINTYA', through a weblink shared by her.
Police said the complainant was assigned user credentials for registration on the app, and began with a 10,000 PhonePe transfer to a UPI address provided by the fraudsters on Jan 9. Over the next fortnight, the handlers forced him to remit larger sums to multiple accounts, citing over the counter (OTC) trades, IPO allocations, and other premium services. "The app's dashboard displayed soaring profits," the victim said. To boost his confidence further, members of the WhatsApp group allegedly posted screenshots of their earnings.
The victim ultimately transferred over 1.26 crore through 34 transactions to various bank accounts and UPI IDs provided by the fraudsters till Jan 22. When he tried to withdraw the funds, the fraudsters demanded commissions, compliance charges, tax, and unblocking fee. Realising that he was duped, the victim halted further payments, and approached the police on Friday after filing an online complaint on Jan 22.
The cybercrime police booked a case under Sections 318(4) (cheating), 319(2) (cheating by personation), 336(3) (forgery for purpose of cheating), 338 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.) and 340(2) (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and Section 66-D of the IT Act.
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He has been reporting crime, courts, politics, transport, and civ...
Read MoreHe has been reporting crime, courts, politics, transport, and civic issues for 18 years. Currently working for The Times of India as an Assistant Editor in Hyderabad. He has worked with the Delhi-NCR edition of the Times of India in the past. He has also have audio-visual media and research experience.
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