A 51-year-old logistician residing in New Panvel, Navi Mumbai, fell victim to a sophisticated online stock market trading scam, losing Rs 1.09 crore. The fraud was orchestrated by a cybercheats gang, including a woman, who lured him with promises of high returns on investments in shares of a leading financial services company. To build trust, they even provided the company's SEBI registration number. The scam took place between March 26 and June 3.
How the Scam Unfolded
On the morning of March 26, the complainant came across an advertisement on his social media account promoting an online share trading platform with high returns. The ad contained a link for investing. Upon clicking the link, he was added to a WhatsApp group managed by R Venkat Raman and Tina Malhotra. He reached out to Malhotra via WhatsApp for more details on share trading. She provided information and sent a link to register his Direct Market Access (DMA) account as a trading member. After he filled in his personal details, she sent him a DMA account registration form along with the company's SEBI registration number on WhatsApp. Meanwhile, Raman guided him through the WhatsApp group on buying shares. The victim was also instructed to download an app via a link.
Initial Investments and Growing Profits
On April 2, he started online stock trading as per Raman's guidance. He was asked to transfer investment money to a bank account, which the fraudsters claimed was with SEBI. As his profits were virtually displayed on the app, he continued trading. From April 2 to June 1, following tips from Raman in the WhatsApp group, he gradually transferred a total of Rs 1.09 crore to various bank accounts provided by Customer Service. The money was allegedly for share purchases, block trading, IPO purchases, brokerage, taxes, and security deposits.
Realization and Action
On June 1, when the complainant tried to withdraw the profits shown on the app, he was unable to do so. He messaged Malhotra on WhatsApp, but she did not respond to his repeated messages. On June 3, he went to the company's Andheri office to meet Malhotra, only to be informed that no such employee worked there. Additionally, no DMA account was registered in his name with that company. Realizing he had been cheated, he lodged an online complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCCRP) on Friday. An FIR was registered at Navi Mumbai Cyber police station on the same day, and the accused were booked for cheating, criminal breach of trust, and other relevant sections under the BNS and IT Act.
Police Investigation
Vishal Patil, senior inspector of Navi Mumbai Cyber police station, stated, "We have initiated the process of tracing the bank accounts where the complainant was made to transfer money, for freezing those bank accounts. The scamsters initially make their targets transfer money to a bank account and then carry out multiple transfers from that account to other bank accounts across India."
