Thane: A 68-year-old retired man has fallen prey to scammers and lost Rs 60.88 lakh in stock investment fraud. In around two dozen transactions, the victim ended up losing a huge amount to scammers, police said.
According to the police, the victim is a resident of Naupada, Thane. On April 07, the victim had received a WhatsApp link on his phone from an unknown number. The said link was about getting huge returns on stock investment.
The victim clicked the link his number got added to a WhatsApp group wherein members were discussing about stock trading and how they made huge profits by following guidance of the stock analysts present in the group.
After the victim showed his interest in investing, the scammers shared another link with him asking him to download a trading app through that link. The scammers had also told the victim that his earnings would reflect on the app.
From May 14 till June 28, the victim ended up transferring Rs 60.88 lakh in 24 transactions in different beneficiary bank accounts provided by the scammer on the pretext of investing the money in stocks. The victim could see his earnings on profit on the app but was unable to withdraw the same.
He then confronted the 'analysts' who told him to pay more money as taxes in order get his earnings released from the app. The victim then realised that he has been scammed. He then approached the Thane police and got an offence registered in the matter on Tuesday.
The victim has provided details of the WhatsApp group floated by the scammers, their contact details, bogus trading application details and transaction details to the police in his complaint. The police have registered a case under section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 66C (identity theft), 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.
