Noida man loses ₹2.23 crore in online trading fraud

Noida: A 73-year-old retired government employee was allegedly duped of ₹2

Noida: A 73-year-old retired government employee was allegedly duped of ₹2.23 crore in an online share trading fraud in Noida Sector 21 between June 10 and July 21, police saidon Thursday.

Police said the victim transferred ₹2.23 crore in multiple transactions between June 15 and July 21 after seeing initial profits.

Police said the victim realised he had been cheated when he contacted the Mumbai-based investment firm on July 27. The victim, a resident of an upscale society in Sector 21, told police that on June 10, he was contacted by a man on WhatsApp claiming to represent a Mumbai-registered online investment firm and was persuaded to open a trading account.

On June 14, he received a message on WhatsApp stating his account had been approved. After submitting the required documents, the victim was asked to download an application and start trading, police said.

“The operators said I could earn around 5 per cent profit by buying stocks at the upper circuit and selling them the next day,” the victim stated in the FIR.

Police said the victim transferred ₹2.23 crore in multiple transactions between June 15 and July 21 after seeing initial profits. “When theapplication showed ₹6 crore investment and he tried to withdraw ₹1.85 crore, he was charged ₹62 lakh as a service fee. After he refused, the fraudsters again demanded ₹37 lakh as capital gains tax,” said Vijay Rana, station house officer (SHO), Cybercrime Branch Police Station.

Police saidthe repeated demand for money made the victim suspicious. He then contacted the genuine online investment firm and learnt that he had fallen victim to a fraud.

The victim on Wednesday filed a complaint at the Cybercrime Branch police station. “A case of cheating and cheating by personation under the BNS and the IT Act was registered and efforts are underway to trace the money trail and nab the suspects,” the SHO added.