Retd Mantralaya employee loses ₹4.71 cr to cyber fraud | Mumbai news

NAVI MUMBAI: A retired Mantralaya employee from Vashi lost ₹4.71 crore in three months to a sophisticated online share trading fraud ring. The fraud followed a familiar pattern – an advertisement promising high returns on stock investments with a link that adds the person who clicks on it to a WhatsApp group that shares trending stocks, IPO updates, and investment tips.

Only exception was that the complainant had initially received ₹2 lakh against his ‘investment’ of ₹5,000. This ploy worked as the gang gained the victim’s trust. “The fraudsters made him invest the small amount and transferred ₹2 lakh as the profit earned. This encouraged the victim to invest big time,” said the investigating officer of the case.

According to the statement given to the police by the complainant, on November 30, 2024, he came across a Facebook advertisement promoting stock investments through an investment firm. He clicked on a provided link to join a WhatsApp group, which purportedly served as a platform for investment tips. Following the tips shared in the group, he began ‘buying’ stocks using his wife’s demat account.

The scam then progressed to the next level with the group admin asking the victim to download an app that promised higher returns. “To verify the authenticity of the agency, the victim requested company registration details, corporate office address, and SEBI registration details. These were duly provided via WhatsApp, further convincing him of the system’s legitimacy,” said the officer.

The complainant ended up transferring a total of ₹4.73 crore for ‘stock investment’ in this way based on the app wallet, which reflected a profit of ₹12.16 crore. “In his desire to earn more profits, he even took loans from relatives,” said the officer.

The complainant realised he had been defrauded on March 5, when he attempted to withdraw the supposed earnings but failed to do so. The fraud agency claimed that the bank details provided were incorrect, leading to the wallet being frozen. To reactivate it, he was asked to pay 10% of the wallet balance, amounting to ₹1.20 crore, as a margin fee. “When the victim expressed his inability to pay, the demand was reduced to ₹40 lakh. It was then that he realised he had been scammed,” said the officer.

A case has been registered by the Cyber Crime police against unidentified persons under sections 319 (2) and 318 (4), 3 (5) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and section 66(D) of Information Technology Act, 2000.