Online Share Trading Fraud: Mumbai Engineer, Family Scammed Of Rs 5.14 Crore; 2 Held
Investigations have revealed that the victim came in contact with cyber fraudsters on the Telegram app.
The Mumbai police have arrested two persons in connection with a case of online share trading fraud, in which a software engineer and his family members lost Rs 5.14 crore, an official said on Friday. The police on Wednesday arrested a tuition teacher and a security guard, who allegedly provided bank accounts to cyber fraudsters for financial transactions, the official said.
The fraud came to light after a software engineer, a resident of Sakinaka in the western suburbs, approached the cyber police of the Mumbai crime branch with a complaint in April, he said.
The complainant claimed he got added to a WhatsApp group of online share traders in January, and he soon expressed his desire to invest in share trading, following which he received a call and was asked to undergo training, the official said.
The complainant downloaded an application, and his virtual account was created, he said.
The complainant started investing money and earning profits in share trading, and his family members followed suit and transferred Rs 5.14 crore to various bank accounts in two months, the official said. The virtual account of the victims showed that they had booked a profit and had Rs 87.85 crore. But they couldn't withdraw the sum, he said.
During the probe, the police examined the bank accounts to which the victims had deposited their money and traced one of them to Hampreetsingh Randhwa (34), a security guard.
Randhwa, a resident of Virar, informed the police that Vimalprakash Gupta (45), a tuition teacher, had opened a bank account for him and given it to cyber fraudsters for financial transactions, the official said.
The police then apprehended Gupta from Goregaon, he said.
Investigations have revealed that Gupta came in contact with cyber fraudsters on the Telegram app. The fraudsters allegedly offered Gupta money if he helped them get bank accounts to use for financial transactions, the official added.
