Noida businessman duped of ₹9 cr in cyber fraud

The alleged scam was discovered after Rajat Bothra was added to a WhatsApp group that purportedly offered lucrative share market trading tips

Noida: A 41-year-old businessman from Noida has been allegedly duped of over ₹9 crore after falling prey to a cyber fraud scheme involving bogus share market investment that promised fruitful returns, officers said on Saturday.

Bothra was told to buy shares through this app on the promise of multi-fold returns and he commenced investing, starting with small investments. (Representational image)

The alleged scam was discovered over the course of a month after complainant Rajat Bothra, a resident of Sector 40, was added to a WhatsApp group on April 28 that purportedly offered lucrative share market trading tips, they added.

Police have registered a first information report (FIR) and initiated an investigation into the alleged scam, and frozen ₹1.62 crore of the illegally transacted funds in the victim’s account. A special team has been set up to track down the cyber criminals.

According to assistant commissioner of police (cybercrime) Vivek Ranjan Rai, the complainant (Bothra) began engaging with the group, wherein a link to download a mobile application (app)was shared.

“Bothra was told to ‘buy shares’ through this app on the promise of multi-fold returns. Bothra commenced investing, starting with small investments. By May 27, he had invested a staggering ₹9.09 crore. It was only after his trading account was abruptly closed, he realised that he had been duped,” said Rai.

Bothra also states in the FIR (registered on May 31) that by May 27, he had transferred a total of ₹9.09 crore in 13 installments through the bogus app. He also said that he filed an online complaint about the matter on government’s portal for cybercrimes.

“When I tried withdrawal, I found that the application did not allow it. I suspected that my money had been swindled in the name of profits in share trading by creating fake website links and applications,” he alleged.

On Friday, a first information report (FIR) was registered at the cybercrime police station in Sector 36, Noida under the Indian Penal Code sections 419 (impersonation), 420 (cheating) and relevant sections of the IT Act.

“The investigation revealed that the swindled funds were transferred to bank accounts spread across locations, including Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Assam, Bhubaneswar (Odisha), Haryana, and Rajasthan. A special team has been formed to track down and arrest the cyber criminals involved,” the ACP (cybercrime) informed