Noida resident duped of ₹34.5 lakh in cyber fraud

When the man tried it again, he was asked to pay ₹10 lakh as a service fee, and he realised that he was duped by fraudsters

Noida: A 33-year-old man was duped of ₹34.5 lakh on the pretext of investing in share market through a mobile-based application and gaining huge profit in Noida’s Dujana village, officers said on Tuesday.

The suspect also posed as the account manager of a UK-based investment firm, and opened his (Sharma’s) demat account in the mobile App meant for holding investments. (Representative image)

Police have registered a case of fraud against unidentified suspects following a complaint by Ashish Sharma, a native of Hapur and resident of Dujana village in Noida. He works at a private firm, they added.

Sharma shared in the complaint that on April 7 he was added to a WhatsApp group — made for investment advice — through a Facebook link. He started getting lectures about the share market and trading through that group. Later, the group administrator started personally asking him to put money in their investment plan.

“In the weekly plan, they used to share stocks and IPOs (initial public offers), which were bound to grow with the upper circuit in the next trading days. So slowly, a trust was built up,” the FIR read.

The suspect also posed as the account manager of a UK-based investment firm, and opened his (Sharma’s) demat account in the mobile App meant for holding investments like shares, bonds, government securities, mutual funds, insurance, and ETFs (exchange traded funds).

Between May 13 and 27, Sharma transferred ₹34.5 lakh in 11 transactions to the mobile App by taking debt from bank and friends. He was allowed to withdraw ₹317,500 in two transactions, said Vijay Kumar Gautam, station house officer, cybercrime branch.

“When he tried it again, he was asked to pay ₹10 lakh as a service fee, and he realised that he was duped by fraudsters,” the officer said.

Following Sharma’s complaint, a case for under Section 420 (cheating and dishonesty) of the Indian Penal Code and 66 D (punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resources) of the IT Act was lodged against the unidentified suspects, and further investigations are underway, the SHO said.

“80 percent of cyber fraud is committed on the pretext of luring people to gain profit through investment. People can complain about cyber fraud at helpline number 1930 or register a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP),” the SHO informed.