The police are on the lookout for scammers who duped investors collectively to the tune of Rs3.35 crore on the pretext of huge returns in stock trading in two separate cases.
Details of fraud
In the first case, a 52-year-old complainant from JB Road in Thane was induced to join a WhatsApp group providing information on stock trading. He was asked to download a trading application on his phone to invest in the stock market. Induced to buy shares of various companies, he saw the app reflecting earnings of Rs20 crore between January 1 and February 20 this year. However, when he tried to withdraw the amount, he was asked to pay more.
The complainant then learnt that the number of shares being displayed in the app was much higher then the actual market value of those shares. Having realised that he had been duped to the tune of Rs1.71 crore, he approached the police and got an offence registered in the matter.
46-year-old businessman duped in similar scam
Similarly, a 46-year-old businessman fell prey to scammers and lost Rs1.63 crore to the lure of exorbitant returns on stock trading investment. Between January 31 and February 29, the complainant was added to a WhatsApp group and asked to download a stock trading app on his phone. He ended up paying like the other complainant and was unable to withdraw his earnings.

FPJ Cyber Secure |
The police have registered separate cases under sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 66C (punishment for identity theft), 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.