Elderly man duped of Rs1.5cr in online share-trading fraud

Pune:A 75-year-old Kharadi-based retired manager of a private company lost Rs1.5 crore between July and Oct last year after cybercrooks promised him handsome returns in online share-trading.He submitted a complaint to the Pune cybercrime police in Jan. After its verification, an FIR was registered on Wednesday.
According to the police, the suspects added the victim'scellphonenumber to a group on a messaging application. Its members frequently thanked the group admin for trading tips. After reading these messages, the victim was impressed."Without informing any of his family members, the victim contacted the group admin. The latter asked him to download a cellphone application for share-trading," an officer from the Pune cCybercrime police said."The suspects initially told the victim to purchase shares through the application. When he purchased shares of lower value, the crooks advised him to invest in high-value shares or IPOs with their assistance," the officer said."The crooks shared details of seven different bank accounts with the victim. The retired private firm's manager transferred a total of Rs1.5 crore through around 300transactions,believing that the crooks were purchasing high-value shares on his behalf. The trading application on his cellphone began showing handsome returns of over 80%," the officer said.When the victim noticed his investments were showing a profit of over Rs3 crore, he decided to sell the shares. The suspects did not allow him to withdraw or sell the shares. The victim then realised that he had been cheated.