E-Paper
Lucknow man falls victim to ₹11L investment scam by alleged foreign nationals
The victim, Awanish Kumar Awasthi of Vineet Khand, revealed that one Clarissa Luis Bhagat contacted him on Facebook, sending him a friend request, and subsequently messaged him on WhatsApp, enticing him to invest in her coffee business.
LUCKNOW: A Gomti Nagar resident has accused a woman, allegedly of foreign nationality, her uncle, and a digital trading professor of duping him out of ₹11 lakh in the name of investment, promising lucrative returns.
Exercising prudence after investing ₹11 lakh, the victim refused to take the bait further and was spared from further loss. He has since filed a case with the Cyber Police.
The victim, Awanish Kumar Awasthi of Vineet Khand, revealed that one Clarissa Luis Bhagat contacted him on Facebook, sending him a friend request, and subsequently messaged him on WhatsApp, enticing him to invest in her coffee business.
The woman informed the victim that she hailed from London and was presently in Mumbai exploring opportunities in the coffee business. She was seeking investors who could anticipate substantial profits with their invested sum being multiplied.
Awasthi was also informed that her uncle, George L, and a digital trading professor named Fred were actively involved in the venture. Shortly thereafter, Fred sent a contract to the victim, requesting him to review the terms before signing.
According to the contract, the victim was obligated to perform 15 trades (digital trading tasks) within five days and transfer 30% of the earned profits to a designated bank account.
“They coerced me into conducting 31 trades between July 9 and 14 and extorted ₹11 lakh from me. They displayed an apparent earning of ₹36 lakh in their account and insisted that I deposit ₹36 lakh to have the money credited to my bank account, along with instructing me to open a high-capacity channel account,” he lamented.
The victim stated that he was only allowed to withdraw ₹36,000 by the time he complied with their demands and initiated the large channel account. “I was warned that the funds would be redirected to a charity if I failed to deposit the specified amount,” he added. The police have filed a case and initiated an investigation into the matter.
