Hyderabad: A man was duped of Rs 12.5 lakh in a cyber fraud in Hyderabad on Monday, September 29. He had invested the money in an online stock trading scam.
According to cybercrime police, the victim, a resident of Begum Bazaar clicked on an ad that redirected him to a WhatsApp group where fraudsters posed as stock trading experts and shared buy-sell tips. The fraudsters convinced the victim to invest through an app that falsely displayed rising profits, prompting repeated transfer.
Later, a balance of Rs 46,89,375 appeared as frozen funds. When the victim refused to pay another Rs 7.6 lakh demanded for release, the scammers threatened to forfeit his money. Realising the fraud, he stopped further transfers, having already lost Rs 12,56,900.
In a separate case, on September 19, two persons from Gujarat were held for duping a Hyderabad-based man of 32 lakh after luring him in a fake online trading scheme. The accused were identified as Inamdar Vinayaka Rajendar, 25, and Rishi Thushar Arothe, 30, who lured the victim via a WhatsApp group posing as an Aditya Birla stock advisory.
In his complaint, the victim said that he was browsing a social media platform when he found an advertisement for the Aditya Birla group. He was redirected to WhatsApp and was directly added to the Aditya Birla stock elite group 678.
An admin of the group introduced herself as Aiyana Joseph, a trade advisor. She asked him to download an app and shared a link. ccording to the cybercrime unit of the Hyderabad police, after downloading the app, the victim was asked to share their KYC details and complete a form. The fraudsters convinced the victim that he could purchase and sell stocks and apply for IPOs. Later, they shared another link: Aditya Birla High Net Worth IPO exclusive membership group link.
After being added to the second group, the fraudsters suggested that the victim invest in Astrazenca Pharma India Ltd. They asked him to give a 20 percent commission on the profit, instructed him to contact customer service, and provided various accounts for depositing the amount.
