The arrest of five persons from Pune city by the Pimpri-Chinchwad police for their alleged involvement in an online share market fraud scheme has led the authorities to probe the connection of the cyber crime to Hong Kong fraudsters.
The suspects are accused of duping unsuspecting victims by luring them with promises of handsome returns on investments in the share market.
The accused have been identified as Salman Mansoor Sheikh (22), Taufiq Gaffar Sheikh (22) and Abdul Ajij Ansari (23) from Lohegaon Road, Junaid Mukhtar Qureshi (21) from Tingarenagar, and Arif Anwar Khan (29) from Kondhwa.
The case was filed based on complaint filed by a woman on February 22 of being duped of ₹35.60 lakh in share market fraud.
According to the police, the accused posted advertisements on social media promising big returns from stock market investments and later transferred the money collected from the victim to their bosses in foreign countries, like Hong Kong, via cryptocurrency.
After luring the victim to join one “Schoder Academy VlP 34” group, the accused made the complainant open a demat account to invest in certain shares. She started with small sums and earned good returns reflected in the virtual account of her investment portfolio. The complainant was asked to transfer money to various bank accounts for trading purposes. To gain the confidence of the victim, the accused showed a fake dashboard to get an idea of profit generated. However, when she asked to withdraw profit, the accused demanded ₹4 lakh citing excuses like technical glitches and account being frozen by authorities, forcing her to approach the police.
{{/usCountry}}After luring the victim to join one “Schoder Academy VlP 34” group, the accused made the complainant open a demat account to invest in certain shares. She started with small sums and earned good returns reflected in the virtual account of her investment portfolio. The complainant was asked to transfer money to various bank accounts for trading purposes. To gain the confidence of the victim, the accused showed a fake dashboard to get an idea of profit generated. However, when she asked to withdraw profit, the accused demanded ₹4 lakh citing excuses like technical glitches and account being frozen by authorities, forcing her to approach the police.
{{/usCountry}}Sandeep Doiphode, DCP (crime) said, “The accused made the victim to transfer money in fraud bank accounts and routed it to Hong Kong via cryptocurrency.”
Seven mobile phones, one cash counting machine, eight credit cards of different banks, cheque books of 12 banks, a bank passbook and ₹7 lakh cash were seized from the accused. Police investigation revealed the accused managed 120 bank accounts and transferred more than ₹4 crore to Hong Kong.