Pune: CA duped of Rs. 3.4 crore in a share trading cyber fraud

Many times our mobile number is added to share trading or cryptocurrency groups without even requesting to join any such group. These groups claim to be providing daily updates on stocks or cryptocurrency dealings. A similar WhatsApp group named after a British financial major and lure of high returns on ‘block trade’ and ‘upper circuit trading’ was used to cheat a Pune-based chartered accountant of a whopping Rs 3.4 crore – of which he had taken over Rs 2 crore as loans from various banks – in an elaborate share trading cyber fraud.

The cyber crime police station of Pune City has launched a probe in the case in which the complaint was lodged by the 49-year-old victim who works for a private company in the city. According to investigators, in February this year, when the complainant was surfing Facebook, he came across the link of an app-based stock trading platform. After clicking the link, he was added to a WhatsApp group named after a London-headquartered multinational asset management company. In the group, he started receiving messages about members receiving huge profits on investments. He was made to download a link to fill up all his financial and bank details and was asked to install an app on his phone.

Over the next few days, he started receiving ‘tips’ for various stock investments and investment opportunities titled ‘block trade’ and ‘upper circuit trade.’ Over the next one month, the complainant was lured and manipulated into making around two dozen large payments in the range of Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 crore, totaling Rs 3.4 crore. Of these, over Rs 2 crore was obtained by the complainant by taking three loans, two from a cooperative bank and another from a private sector bank. All this while, the complainant’s account on the phone-based application reflected huge returns on his investments.

When the complainant tried to withdraw some of the money, he was told that he would have to donate a part of the total amount to a charity. It was at this point that he started checking various details of the so-called share trading platform and realised that he had been cheated. He later approached the cyber crime cell and after a preliminary probe, an FIR was registered.

In what cyber investigators are calling an epidemic in online share trading fraud cases registered with Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad police, online criminals are using baits such as trading tips, online lectures, phone-based apps and promises of very high returns. In an advisory issued in this regard on February 26, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) highlighted the tactics of fraudsters, including posing as SEBI-registered entities and exploiting social media to promote fraud trading schemes.