Man loses ₹73 lakh to cyber conmen after getting trapped in stock market fraud

Investigators said that the victim was sent a link on his WhatsApp by the suspects for downloading an app to monitor his investment, which was actually a phishing app.

A 71-year-old elderly man was duped of ₹73.25 lakh by cyber fraudsters after trapping him in stock market investment fraud, police said on Wednesday.

The victim is a resident of Sector 65, said police. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The victim is a resident of Sector 65, said police, adding he remained trapped in the fraud for almost two months.

Sandeep Kumar, public relations officer of Gurugram police, said that the fraud started taking place from July 25 and continued till August 27.

Investigators said that the victim was sent a link on his WhatsApp by the suspects for downloading an app to monitor his investment, which was actually a phishing app.

“The conmen had initially credited money in the bank account of the victim by labelling the money as profit earned on his investments. After winning his trust, the suspects made him transfer hefty amounts to various bank accounts telling him that the money was being invested in the market,” said Kumar.

Kumar said that when the victim tried to withdraw the money, the suspects asked him to further deposit money on pretext of taxes and charges. “Later, they turned off their mobile phones when the victim realised that he had been duped,” said Kumar, adding one of the suspects had been detained for interrogation.

On the complaint of the victim’s son, Vikram Middha, 43, a cheating case was registered at Cybercrime police station (South), said police.

Two arrested for providing mule accounts to cyber gangs

In another case, two suspects were arrested from Bajghera for allegedly luring youth by promising them jobs and then using their documents to open mule bank accounts and giving their access to cybercrime gangs, police said on Wednesday.

The suspects were identified as Rahul alias Ravish Kumar alias Abhiram, 26, of Bihar’s Nawada, and Aamir Hussain alias Amit, 29, of Krishna Nagar, West Bengal. Eight mobile phones, seven debit cards, two cheque books and fifteen fraudulently issued SIM cards were seized from the suspects.

Sandeep Kumar, public relations officer of Gurugram police, said that they had recently taken documents from a victim promising him to provide a job after opening a salary account.

“However, they sold the account to a gang for ₹10,000. The victim got an FIR registered at Cybercrime police station (West) on Saturday after he didn’t get the kit of his bank account from the suspects,” he said.

Soon after, police tracked the duo and arrested them after which it came to light that they had opened more than 100 mule accounts using more than 50 emails in the last few months and sold each of them to the gang for ₹10,000 each.