Mumbai: A 41-year-old woman from Mira Road who works with a well-known data management company in Navi-Mumbai has become the latest victim of well-designed plot hatched by cyber crooks who duped her of a whopping Rs 55.44 lakh by luring her into to invest in a fake stock trading application.
Notably, the crooks impersonated as stock market experts and conducted online tutorials and giving trading tips on a WhatsApp group before enticing the victim to invest in multiple companies and earn high profits.
In her statement to the police, the complainant said that she came across an advertisement posted on Facebook by an academy which offered trading tips and guidance in a guaranteed 500 percent profit plan. The woman clicked on the training link, following which she was directed to a questionnaire page seeking answers to general questions about share trading.
After submitting the answers, she was added to a WhatsApp group in which stock markets experts were offering guidance and tips to members who on their part shared their profit-sharing experiences. After observing the chatting activities for a month, the woman invested Rs.50,000 and earned a profit of Rs 5,000 within two days.
The woman fell for the trap and went on to invest Rs 55.44 lakh via ten transfer transactions to specified bank accounts within a span of less than two months between March, 6 and May,1. Although she could see her profits soaring to more than four crore in her institutional account, she was unable to conduct any withdrawals.
When questioned the group admin asked her to transfer Rs 5 lakh towards management fee and income tax to withdraw her investments. Realising she was duped, the woman approached the Kashimira police station where she learnt that two other people were duped of Rs.18.91 lakh and Rs.1.50 lakh by the crooks using a similar modus operandi.
A joint FIR of the three victims who collectively lost Rs. 75.85 lakh was registered under the relevant sections of the IPC and Information Technology Act against the cyber crooks on Saturday.
The MBVV police advised citizens to be aware of investment scams and asked them to avoid suspicious links, WhatsApp calls, and messages from unknown numbers. In case of any cyber-related offences, people can directly approach the local police stations or lodge a complaint with the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in) or call the cybercrime helpline 1930.
