A Pune-based 53-year-old man and his brother lost Rs 2.45 crore to an online share trading scam.
The victim, who is a resident of Charholi Budruk, lodged the FIR in this case at the Dighi police station on Saturday.
The police said a cybercriminal added the complainant to a WhatsApp group and told him that he could earn huge profits through online share trading.
Later, the fraudster also added the complainant’s brother to the same WhatsApp group.
The police said the complainant followed the instructions given by the fraudster and created a ‘share trading account’, through which he and his brother started ‘buying shares’ as per the tips received on the WhatsApp group.Between January 5 and March 8, the complainant transferred Rs 1,67,80,000 and his brother transferred Rs 77,50,000 from their bank accounts to various other bank accounts through multiple online transactions, believing that the money was being invested in the share market.
“The complainant and his brother kept on transferring more money into fraudulent bank accounts… After a while, it was falsely shown to them that they had earned Rs 8 crore in the share trading business. The brothers then tried to withdraw the profit amount but failed. Then they realised it was a scam and filed a complaint with the police,”
Dhamal said the complainant and his brother are into private jobs and lost their valuable savings to the cyber scammers. “We have identified three bank accounts in which their money was transferred. Attempts are on to recover the money,” he said.
Officials said that cyber criminals fish for potential targets through social media posts or phone messenger texts. Those who respond are added to online groups where they are offered online lessons and are asked to log in to certain share trading applications designed by cybercriminals.
“These applications have intriguing and technical-sounding names to make them seem authentic and fraudsters also misuse many big names in the wealth management sector claiming affiliations. As victims start sending money to fraudulent accounts, the fake apps start deceitfully displaying unrealistically high returns, luring victims into further investing substantial amounts. The fraudulent apps often mimic legitimate trading platforms, creating a false sense of security even reflecting ups and downs in the market. When victims try to withdraw their earnings, the fraudsters vanish,” a senior police officer said.
