Secunderabad doctor loses over Rs 50 lakh in online investment scam

Hyderabad: A 46-year-old doctor from Padma Rao Nagar, Secunderabad lost Rs 53 lakh in an online stock market investment scam after being lured by fraudsters posing as representatives of a brokerage firm.

According to a complaint received by the Hyderabad cybercrime police on Wednesday, the victim was inducted in mid-June into a WhatsApp group run by the fraudsters. The fraudsters would direct members to a fake website which claimed to be an institutional trading portal guaranteeing them profits and hassle-free withdrawals.

Trusting the claims, the doctor transferred money on 18 separate occasions between June 17 and July 15, sending amounts ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 13 lakh through UPI, IMPS and RTGS payment methods.

The funds were routed to over a dozen bank accounts, held in the names of individuals, small businesses and even a charitable trust.

Initially, the portal showed massive gains, inflating the victim’s Rs 12 lakh balance to Rs 97.98 lakh. However, when he tried to withdraw money from his account, the operators insisted that he first pay brokerage of 20 per cent, followed by 15 per cent govt tax.

“After I transferred the amount, they demanded Rs 10 lakh as margin money, threatening to tarnish my CIBIL score if I refused. When I refused to pay, they blocked my account which was when I realised I had been defrauded. In return for all of my money transfers, they deposited only Rs 1,200 in my account,” the victim alleged.

A case was registered under sections 66C and 66D of the IT Act and 111(2)(b) (organised crime), 318(4) (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 319(2) (cheating by personation), 336(3) (forgery for purpose of cheating), 338 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 340(2) (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) on Wednesday. Police are analysing the bank transaction details to identify the offenders.