Pune techie duped of Rs 62L in online share-trading fraud

PUNE: The cyber police have registered a case of cheating against cybercrooks for cheating a Sinhagad Road-based software engineer (49) of Rs 62 lakh by promising him handsome returns on his investment in online share-trading.

The cheating took place between April and May last year. The complainant kept waiting for a long time to get his money back. He registered a complaint application with the police last month. After verifying his complaint, police registered the case of cheating.

Senior inspector Swapnali Shinde of Pune cyber police told TOI, "The techie's cellphone number was added to a group on a messaging application where the members discussed how the group admin gave tips, and they made high returns from the online share-trading."

Police said the techie was impressed with the profits discussed in the group and contacted the group admin.

The admin then sent him a link to an online cell phone application to facilitate the buying and selling of shares. The techie started investing meagre amounts and bought some shares. He, however, failed to make any profit, the police said, adding that the group admin then contacted the techie and asked him to invest in high-value shares and IPOs.

The group admin also promised to help the techie buy such high-value shares. The admin then shared six bank accounts with the techie, who then transferred a collective sum of Rs 62 lakh.

The techie decided to sell the shares when he saw a profit of over Rs 90 lakh. The conmen did not let him sell the shares.