Three duped of ₹76 Lakh in separate investment frauds in Noida, Greater Noida

In the first incident, a Greater Noida West resident was duped of ₹42 lakh after receiving a notification that a nationalised bank was offering block trading and an IPO at a discounted price

NoidaThree people, including two residents of Noida and one of Greater Noida, were conned of ₹77 lakh in three separate investment frauds in the last three months, said police on Wednesday, adding that cases were registered at the Cyber crime branch police station.

In another incident, a 52-year-old man was duped of ₹24 lakh in a share market investment fraud from March 18 to March 23. (Representational image)

In the first incident, a 65-year-old man, resident of Greater Noida West was duped of ₹42 lakh after he received a notification that a nationalised bank was offering block trading and an Initial Public Offering (IPO) at a discounted price with a promised return. Police said that following the notification, the victim, a retired doctor, contacted the provided number and he was informed that the bank securities had launched a premium profit plan for selected individuals.

“After the assurance, the victim shared his personal details and completed the Know Your Customer (KYC) process after visiting the website provided by the suspects,” said a police officer, requesting anonymity.

From June 2 to June 30, he transferred ₹42,30,000 in multiple transactions. When he attempted to withdraw his profit of ₹3 crore, shown on the website, he was asked for commission and other charges.

“Suspicious of these new demands, I requested to meet the group administrator at the securities office (branch office) in Mumbai. My nephew was sent to the meeting location, but the administrator failed to appear, providing various excuses. Office personnel from the bank confirmed that no such scheme or person existed within securities, which confirmed my suspicions of fraudulent activity,” reads the FIR.

“A case under sections 318 (cheating) and 319 (cheating by personation) under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 66D (Punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource) under IT Act was registered, and efforts are underway to recover the money,” said cyber crime branch station house officer (SHO) Ranjeet Kumar Singh.

In another incident, a 52-year-old man was duped of ₹24 lakh in a share market investment fraud from March 18 to March 23. Police said that the case was reported to the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) and was transferred to the cyber crime branch on July 11 and a case was registered after preliminary investigation.

In his complaint, the victim, a resident of Sector 37, alleged, “I received a call from an unidentified number on March 10. The caller introduced himself as an advisor from the share market and informed me that I was shortlisted to invest in multinational companies to earn a huge profit.”

Police said that after obtaining the victim’s identity card and other financial details, the suspects provided him with bank account numbers to invest in the share market and earn 80 percent of his invested money.

“Initially, the victim transferred ₹50,000. But after multiple transactions, he was informed that his portfolio had a loss of ₹22 lakh and was directed to invest more. In multiple transactions, he ended up losing ₹24 lakh, but when the suspects kept demanding more money, he realised that he was being duped,” said SHO Singh.

In yet another incident, a 27-year-old man was duped of ₹10.72 lakh in a similar investment fraud on June 8 and June 9. Police said a case of cheating was registered on June 14 and further investigation is underway.