2 Lost Rs 4.15 cr In Online Trading Scam

Hyderabad:The cyber crime wing of the Cyberabad police on Saturday registered two cases of large-scale online trading frauds, in which victims were duped into investing through fake stock market platforms and lost over Rs 4.15 crore in total.

According to an official release, the fraudsters impersonated reputed financial service companies, created fake trading applications and convinced the complainants to transfer huge sums by promising extraordinary profits through stock trading, block deals and IPO allotments.

In both cases, the victims were initially contacted through Facebook and Instagram before being added to WhatsApp groups that appeared to be active with fabricated messages and fake profit updates. Using the photos of senior executives from well-known financial firms, the accused posed as professional market analysts and investment advisors.

The victims were persuaded to download counterfeit trading apps that displayed manipulated dashboards showing inflated returns. “Small withdrawals were first allowed to build confidence, following which the victims were asked to make larger deposits under the pretext of maintaining DMA accounts or securing IPO allotments,” police said. “When they later tried to withdraw their money, the fraudsters demanded additional payments, citing audit charges or fund release procedures.”

In one case, a victim lost Rs 2.24 crore. In another case, the victim transferred Rs 1.91 crore, of which Rs 10.66 lakh was briefly refunded as part of the scam to create a false sense of security.

With prompt reporting on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal and coordination with banks, police succeeded in freezing Rs 25.10 lakh — Rs 4.33 lakh from the first case and Rs 20.76 lakh from the second. Investigations are underway to trace the culprits and identify the foreign links behind the fraudulent trading networks, police said.