87L fake stocks fraud: Nashik ‘mule’ held, took 7.4L as his cut

Mumbai: Cyber police arrested a 46-year-old Nashik man for allowing his bank account to be used to park illegal funds obtained through fake online stocks. He received Rs 7.4 lakh as commission, police said.According to police, the complainant, a Dadar resident, was duped of Rs 87 lakh by people posing as representatives of a private bank through WhatsApp. The accused allegedly used the logo of the bank to gain his trust and lured him with promises of high returns through stock market trading. The fraudsters added the complainant to a WhatsApp group and created a fake trading account in his name on a fraudulent website.Under the pretext of investments, they induced him to transfer nearly Rs 87 lakh into multiple bank accounts. Police found that Rs 7.4 lakh from it was transferred to a bank account linked to a firm named Universal Engineering, held with Bank of Maharashtra. The account was traced to Gangadhar Bhalerao of Nashik.A court remanded Bhalerao into police custody. Police are looking for the other accused to examine financial trails and possible links to a bigger fraud network.
Check AP SSC 10th Result 2026 on TOI