76-yr-old loses ₹4.58 cr in demat fraud; trading firm staff held

The accused, Pushpa Bind, allegedly contacted the Gamdevi-based businessman on August 10 and persuaded him to invest in certain shares, claiming they would be profitable

MUMBAI: A 33-year-old woman working at a share trading firm has been arrested for allegedly selling shares worth ₹4.58 crore from a 76-year-old businessman’s demat account and replacing them with penny stocks without his consent. The South Cyber police said she allegedly gained access to his registered email account to obtain the one-time passwords needed to trade in his account.

76-yr-old loses ₹4.58 cr in demat fraud; trading firm staff held

The accused, Pushpa Bind, allegedly contacted the Gamdevi-based businessman on August 10 and persuaded him to invest in certain shares, claiming they would be profitable. She then allegedly obtained his demat account credentials and password and sold shares from his portfolio to buy penny stocks.

According to Bajrang Bansode, deputy commissioner of police (Cyber), the investigation found that OTPs for accessing the demat account were sent to the complainant’s registered email address. Bind allegedly obtained a SIM card linked to the mobile number associated with the email account and used it to access the OTPs and carry out unauthorised transactions.

The businessman discovered the alleged fraud when he checked his account on August 11. Police managed to stop the sale of shares worth ₹2.86 crore, Bansode said.

Police said Bind allegedly received a 30% commission for the transactions. She has previously been arrested by the Santacruz and Azad Maidan police in other cases.

The South Cyber police are investigating whether she had accomplices. Officials said she had previously worked with well-known investment firms in the city.