G Noida woman loses ₹69.53 lakh in share market investment fraud

She complained that in June she was added to an unidentified WhatsApp group that claimed to provide tips to make profit in the share market

Greater Noida: A 32-year-old woman in Greater Noida was allegedly duped to the tune of ₹69.53 lakh on the pretext of making 300 percent profit by investing in share market through a mobile application, said police on Tuesday.

Police said the woman made 40 per cent of this payment through cheques and when the suspects asked her to pay more ₹21 lakh as tax and other charges to withdraw the profit money, she sensed that she was being duped. (Representative Image)

Police said the woman made 40 per cent of this payment through cheques and when the suspects asked her to pay more ₹21 lakh as tax and other charges to withdraw the profit money, she sensed that she was being duped.

The complainant Stuti (who goes by a single name) resides with her family in Amaatra homes in Sector 10, Greater Noida, said Vijay Kumar Gautam, station house officer, cyber police station.

She complained that in June she was added to an unidentified WhatsApp group that claimed to provide tips to make profit in the share market, the officer said.

“After a few days of share market training, she was asked to download a mobile application and make 300 per cent of profit by using their plans,” the SHO said.

“Initially, she invested ₹1 lakh. A day later the application showed that she earned ₹50,000 profit. Later, the woman and her husband were added to another private group, where they received a profit plan to invest ₹30 lakh,” said SHO Gautam, adding that the couple followed the fraudsters’ advice and invested ₹20 lakh citing her police complaint.

“On July 16, I was informed that an Initial Public Offering (IPO) was listed, and we were allotted one lakh shares. To buy these shares, I was asked to invest ₹1.19 crore. We were also informed that we made a profit of ₹50 lakh from a recent investment and had to pay around ₹48 lakh more (for IPO),” reads the FIR.

As the couple insisted that they did not have money to pay that amount and expressed their concern about withdrawal of their profit. The suspects cited terms and conditions before they could without the profit, the officer said.

“After a week, they invested the rest of the amount after breaking their fixed deposits, mutual funds, and taking loans from friends and family,” said police.

The couple went on to make multiple transactions for the total ₹69.53 lakh via online method and cheques. But when they tried to withdraw their suggested profit of ₹4 crore on this amount, they were asked to pay ₹21 lakh as tax and other charges. Then, they realised that they were being duped, police said.

Following the woman’s complaint, a case under Sections 318 (cheating and dishonesty), 319 (Cheat by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Information Act was registered against the unidentified accused at cybercrime police station on August 2 and investigations are on.

People can complain about cyber fraud at 1930 or register a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP).