Greater Noida: 2 duped of ₹1.57cr in cyber fraud

In the first incident, a 47-year-old man, who works at a Chennai-based IT firm and resides in Sector 16, Noida Extension, was allegedly duped to the tune of ₹91.78 lakh between March 1 to 28

Noida: Two Greater Noida residents were duped of ₹1.57 crore in separate cyber fraud cases in the month of March, said police officials on Thursday, adding that cases have been registered at the Cybercrime Branch police station.

In another incident, cybercriminals hacked the email of a 47-year-old man from Greater Noida and siphoned off ₹59 lakh in overdraft money using his account credentials, said police. (Representational image)

In the first incident, a 47-year-old man, who works at a Chennai-based IT firm and resides in Sector 16, Noida Extension, was allegedly duped to the tune of ₹91.78 lakh between March 1 to 28, police said.

In his police complaint, seen by HT, the victim said, “On March 1, I was contacted by some company’s representative through Whatsapp group which claimed to be the Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and convinced me to open a Foreign Institutional Investor (FII) trading account.”

The victim was later provided a link to download an Android application and register for trading, said officials.

“Initially, I invested ₹50,000. Later, on March 5, based on their continuous assurances and guidance, I went on to invest approximately ₹5.5 lakh till March 12. Later, I was instructed to sell the shares on March 27. When I requested to withdraw my funds, I was told that the amount would be credited on a trade plus one day basis (next working day),” the victim alleged in the FIR.

But when the victim approached them on March 30, police said, he was allegedly asked to transfer an additional ₹5.75 lakh as taxes. “But when the victim checked the tax details, it appeared fake and he realised it was a trap,” said Vijay Rana, station house officer (SHO), Cybercrime Branch police station.

“A case of cheating and cheating by personation of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the IT Act was registered at the Cybercrime Branch police station on Wednesday, and further investigation is underway,” the SHO added.

In another incident, cybercriminals hacked the email of a 47-year-old man from Greater Noida and siphoned off ₹59 lakh in overdraft money using his account credentials, said police

Police said the victim, a professor, resides in Omicron 1.

In his police complaint, seen by HT , the victim said, “On March 23, I received a message from my bank that mentioned that my overdraft amount of ₹59 lakh has been withdrawn.”

Police officials said that the victim approached bank officials to clarify that he did not use the overdraft facility. “When I checked my email, I found that it was inactive and not visible on my mobile phone. I believed that someone accessed my email and banking passwords and OTP for financial fraud of ₹59 lakh,” the victim stated in the police complaint.

“The victim was out of town when the fraud took place. As he reported the incident to the National Cyber Reporting Portal (NCRP) and mentioned his home address, the case was transferred here. It was suspected that he may have opened some suspicious link after which his email was hacked. However, a case of cheating of the BNS and IT Act was registered and further investigation is underway,” said SHO Rana.

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