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68-year-old retired bank staff cheated of ₹8.5 lakh in Gurugram
Investigators said that Malkotia kept transferring money into their bank accounts whenever they suggested and tracked it via a phishing investment app which the suspects had made the victim download on his mobile phone for tracking the investment
Gurugram: A retired bank employee was allegedly cheated of ₹8.5 lakh after he fell prey to cyber fraudsters who lured him by promising hefty profits from investments in the stock market, police said on Wednesday.
Investigators identified the victim as 68-year-old Om Prakash Malkotia who lives in Sushant Lok-I in Sector-43. They said Malkotia was initially added in a WhatsApp group named ‘Ganpati India Financial Club-B92’ on June 13 and the suspects kept giving all the members in it tips and training for investment in the stock market.
After being in the group for almost two months, on August 2, the suspects interacted with Malkotia and he fell into their trap. He initially transferred ₹50,000 into a bank account operated by the suspects on the pretext of investing the amount in the stock market. They promised him that he would earn profits to the tune of ₹34,000.
Investigators said that Malkotia kept transferring money into their bank accounts whenever they suggested and tracked it via a phishing investment app which the suspects had made the victim download on his mobile phone for tracking the investment.
A senior police official, quoting the victim’s complaint, said that he finally suspected foul play on August 21 when he tried to withdraw the principal amount along with the fraudulent profit being shown on the dashboard of the mobile application. But the suspects asked him to deposit more money in lieu of taxes and other charges.
“It was then that he realised that he had fallen for an investment fraud. He submitted an online complaint on the cybercrime portal of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs which was redirected to the Gurugram Police for action,” he said.
Sandeep Kumar, public relations officer of the Gurugram Police, said that an investigation has been launched to ascertain the identities of all the suspects and nab them soon.
Based on Malkotia’s complaint, an FIR was registered against several unidentified suspects under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at the Cyber Crime police station (east) on Tuesday.
