Noida woman loses ₹87.50 lakh in investment fraud

The woman told police that she received a WhatsApp message on July 9 from an unidentified number, with the message claiming to be from a private bank

Noida A 53-year-old woman in Noida Sector 23 was allegedly duped of ₹87.50 lakh in a share market investment fraud between July 9 and August 8, police said on Thursday, adding that a case was registered at the cybercrime police station.

The woman approached the police and a case under sections 318 (cheating), 319 (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the IT Act was registered. (Representational image)

The woman told police that she received a WhatsApp message on July 9 from an unidentified number, with the message claiming to be from a private bank. “The woman started a conversation. The fraudsters assured her that they would help her in share trading and Initial Public Offering (IPO) allotment. The woman started trading with ₹1 lakh but gradually increased the investment amount as the application provided by the suspects showed significant profit,” said a police officer, requesting anonymity.

Police said that after two-three payments, the suspects gave the victim an interest-free loan to buy more shares. “They (fraudsters) allotted more shares than the available funds in my account, then on their own provided non-interest loans to complete the IPO initial payments. I was forced to pay the loan amount. If I didn’t, they said they would freeze my invested funds. So I paid that large amount against the loan,” the woman told police, according to the FIR.

“In 14 transactions, the victim ended up losing ₹87.50 lakh. On August 6, when she attempted to withdraw her profit and was not allowed to do so, she realised that she was not dealing with genuine private bank securities,” said cybercrime branch station house officer Ranjeet Singh.

The woman approached the police and a case under sections 318 (cheating), 319 (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the IT Act was registered.