A Pune woman has fallen victim to an online share trading fraud, losing a staggering Rs 3 crore from her life savings. The fraudsters used an Instagram advertisement and the offer of a ‘trial seed fund’ of Rs 10,000 to lure her in. The woman was manipulated into making 30 transactions to 12 fraudulent bank accounts totalling Rs 3.04 crore, before she realized that she was being cheated. She reported the incident to the Cyber crime police station of Pune city last week, and the police have registered a First Information Report (FIR).
The fraudsters used a fraudulent phone-based application to show the woman that she had earned profits of Rs 20 crore against her ‘investment’. They kept telling her about new investment opportunities in the stock market and she continued making large transfers. In between, she was allowed to make small withdrawals totalling around Rs 1 lakh.
When she expressed willingness to withdraw all the money, she was told that before withdrawing the money she would have to pay 30 percent of the total profits as charity and 10 percent as fees. It was at this point that she realized she was being cheated.
In another case registered two weeks ago, a Pune-based CA was cheated of a staggering Rs 3.4 crore in an elaborate share trading by cyber frauds, of which over Rs 2 crore was taken by him as loans from various banks. The cyber criminals used a WhatsApp group named after a British financial major to lure him with high returns on ‘block trade’ and ‘upper circuit trading’.
Over the last five months, the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad police have reported what their cyber investigators are calling an epidemic, a worrying surge in online share trading fraud cases. Fraudsters employ a variety of baits, including trading tips, virtual lectures, mobile applications, and enticing promises of exorbitant returns.
SEBI’s advisory on February 26 underscored these tactics, cautioning against fraudsters posing as SEBI-registered entities and exploiting social media platforms to peddle fraudulent trading schemes.
