Delhi Police has arrested a 31-year-old software engineer, who used to earn around Rs 30 lakh annually in a multinational company. Police say he left such a good job and started running a fake online trading racket that defrauded hundreds of investors across India. The accused has been identified as Ravi Rathore, who is considered to be the mastermind of this entire fraud. Police have arrested Ravi along with his two associates after a major operation that extended to Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.
Delhi Police said that the accused had created a fake mobile application and a fake website. This platform was introduced as an online trading service. Victims were promised huge returns without any risk. This gang mainly targeted those people who were interested in investing money in the stock market. They used to tell investors that their system uses advanced software tools, which can generate huge profits in a safe manner. Police said that this group adopted very convincing methods to win the trust of people and persuade them to invest money.
The matter came to light when a resident of Paharganj area of Delhi lodged a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. The complainant said that he received phone calls from unknown numbers persuading him to download this trading app and start investing. Believing their claims, the victim transferred Rs 10,000 through several online transactions. Initially, fake daily profits were shown to build trust on the app. This display was designed to look exactly like the original so people would deposit more money.
When the victim tried to withdraw his money, the operators allegedly asked him to deposit more money. Deputy Commissioner of Police Rohit Rajveer Singh said that whenever the victim tried to withdraw money, he was asked to pay additional amount. For this, excuses like tax, account activation fees and processing charges were made. These repeated demands made the victim suspicious. After reading government warnings about cyber fraud, she realized she had been duped and reported the matter to the authorities.
FIR was registered on 1 May. Following this, Delhi Police started a detailed investigation. The investigation included technical surveillance, IP address tracking, server log analysis, and examination of financial transactions. The investigators found that the backend system and control panel of the fake app was being operated from Bengaluru. At the same time, calling operations and money transactions were related to Sanawad in Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh. Police formed two separate teams to nab the suspects in both the states.
Ravi Rathore was arrested from Bengaluru on 3 May. Police recovered two laptops, a mobile phone and an SUV from him, which were allegedly purchased with fraudulent money. On May 5, another team arrested his associates Sudama and Vikash Rathod from Sanawad. During the raid at what police described as a call centre, they seized 17 mobile phones, five computers, 13 SIM cards, bank account records, ATM cards and a huge amount of digital data. This data contained details of thousands of potential victims.
Investigators said the group hired female callers to contact the victims. Its objective was to win the trust of male investors and encourage them to invest more money. Police believe this strategy helped the group convince people to invest large sums of money.
Police said Rathore used his software development background to create and maintain a fake trading platform. Sudama allegedly financed the operations. Whereas, Vikash used to handle calls and talk to investors to promote this scheme.
Technical analysis revealed that 636 victim accounts were created on the platform. Police found about 14,232 transactions related to this racket. The total amount involved was around Rs 99.77 crore. Officials said a part of this money was used to buy flats and other properties in Indore. Luxury cars were also purchased.
Investigators suspect that the accused may be linked to similar fraud cases in other states. Police are now tracing the entire money trail. They are also investigating the Mule accounts that were used to transfer funds and identifying other victims.
This case shows how online fraud can appear real and trustworthy. The police action has exposed a large network which allegedly used technology to defraud investors. The investigation is still ongoing. Authorities say more information may emerge as they continue to track financial records and digital evidence. These arrests are a major step forward in stopping this racket and protecting future investors.
