A 44-year-old man from Mira Road who works as a front desk executive with a reputed sports club in Tardeo became the latest victim of cyber crooks who duped him of more than Rs. 15 lakh by enticing him to invest in virtual currencies and coins on a fake exchange platform.
In his statement to the police, the complainant said that he came across an advertisement posted on Facebook by a private firm offering tips to reap profits by trading in virtual currency exchange. The complainant established contact on the specified number, following which he was added to a WhatsApp group.
The admins of the group lured the complainant into buying virtual currency and coins including- PTMX, HDMT and MUCHT on the portal of the firm. The complainant fell for the trap and went on to invest Rs.15.21 lakh via 21 transfer transactions to specified bank accounts within a span of six months between January, 29 and July, 3 this year. However, when the complainant placed a request with the admin seeking withdrawal of his investments along with the profits earned, he received unsatisfactory answers and was finally removed from the group on July 3.
Realising he was cheated, the man approached the Kashimira police station where an offence under section 318 (3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for cheating with the knowledge that is likely thereby to cause wrongful loss to a person and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act was registered against the cyber crooks on Saturday. Further investigations were underway.
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.
56 FIR’s Under New Criminal Code -BNS, So Far
As the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) came into effect from July 1 2024 by replacing the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the published FIR section in the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) of the MBVV police shows that 56 FIR’s have been registered under the newly introduced criminal code so far by seven out of the eighteen police stations. However, the numbers could be higher as several other police stations were yet to upload the data of FIR’s registered after 1, July on the CCTNS portal.
