Gurugram man cheated of ₹89 lakh on the pretext of investment

On Jadhav’s complaint, an FIR was registered against the woman and other unknown suspects under Section 66D (cheating by personation using computer resource) of the Information Technology (IT) Act and Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code at Cyber Crime police station (West) on Saturday, said police

A city resident was allegedly cheated of ₹89 lakh on the pretext of investment in foreign exchange trading, Gurugram police said on Sunday.

Gurugram man cheated of ₹89 lakh on the pretext of investment

Police said the amount also includes two personal loans of ₹25 lakh and ₹10 lakh, which the victim ended up paying the conmen, who are yet to be arrested.

The victim, identified as Manish Jadhav (46), a resident of Sector 22, had befriended a woman on an online application in November last year, investigators said.

They said that after a few weeks of chatting over the app, the woman started discussing investments in foreign exchange market and allured him by showing how people earn hefty profits in a short time. They said that she asked Jadhav, who is a senior executive in a private firm, to use a web-based application for making investments and a Telegram channel for customer support.

Police said that with the help of the woman, Jadhav made an initial investment of ₹50,000 after creating an account on the trading application using his driving licence details, mobile phone number and email address on December 2. Investigators said that within a few hours, he earned a profit of ₹12,240 after which the woman helped him to withdraw the entire amount of ₹62,240 and get it transferred into his bank account.

A senior police officer said that it bolstered Jadhav’s confidence after which he made an overall investment of ₹89 lakh in multiple transactions, which included the personal loan of ₹25 lakh and ₹10 lakh for tax payment. “Like the first transaction in which he had made profit, the woman suggested withdrawing the money on January 10. By that time, Jadhav was shown to have earned a profit of about $92,970 (approximately ₹76.71 lakh) on his investments. But when he tried to withdraw, the customer support asked him to pay 30% tax on the profit,” he said.

The officer said Jadhav had alleged that the woman suggested paying half of the tax amount for which he was forced to take a second personal loan of ₹10 lakh.

Jadhav alleged that after depositing the money in the firm’s account, the woman did not help in getting the part of profit and principal withdrawn and demanded more money. He realised that he had fallen victim to a fraud.

When contacted, Jadhav said that he was in touch with police to get the cheated amount back. “They are working on the case,” he added.

Inspector Amit Kumar, station house officer (SHO) of Cyber Crime (West) police station, said they are investigating the case. “We are trying to gather details about the suspects and their location,” he added.

On Jadhav’s complaint, an FIR was registered against the woman and other unknown suspects under Section 66D (cheating by personation using computer resource) of the Information Technology (IT) Act and Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Cyber Crime police station (West) on Saturday, said police.