Facebook Investment Ad Led to Rs 27.62 Lakh Fraud
She was eventually contacted by people claiming to be financial experts, who guided her through the platform and displayed huge profits.
HYDERABAD: Cyberabad Cyber Crime Police registered a case after a 37-year-old software employee lost Rs 27.62 lakh in an online trading fraud linked to a Facebook advertisement featuring finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
According to the complaint, she saw the advertisement on the Facebook platform and believed it was genuine. After paying a registration fee, she joined the purported trading platform’s WhatsApp group. She was eventually contacted by people claiming to be financial experts, who guided her through the platform and displayed huge profits. To gain her confidence, she was initially allowed to withdraw seven dollars which was credited to her bank account.
The victim then deposited one lakh to open a trading account. The alleged fraudsters then claimed that her investments had generated profits worth 71,000 dollars, but demanded additional payments, when she attempted to withdraw the money. The victim transferred money towards purported taxes, declaration charges and currency-conversion fees. She paid Rs 8 lakh after being told it was required to legalise her deposit, followed by Rs 8.47 lakh as a refundable declaration amount and another Rs 10 lakh towards alleged conversion charges.
The victim was later asked to pay up to Rs 8 lakh for fund insurance, following which she realised that she was cheated and contacted the cybercrime helpline. The victim made nine transactions totalling Rs 27,63,023. Cybercrime sleuths registered the case and launched a probe under BNS and Information Technology Act.