Retired BMC Official Duped Of ₹1.53 Crore, Policeman Loses ₹6 Lakh In Separate Cyber Frauds

Mumbai: A retired BMC official lost Rs1.53 crore in shares investment fraud. The 61-year-old kept pumping money as he could see his 'earnings' of Rs7.50 crore in a trading app he had downloaded on the instructions of the c.

According to the police, the Thane resident came across an advertisement related to stock market investment, while surfing Facebook in January. Upon clicking on it, the former policeman got added in a WhatsApp group wherein investment tips were being discussed.

The scammers then shared a link with him, asking to download a trading app. From February 4 till April 7, the ex-cop transferred Rs1.53 crore in 21 online transactions.

Later, he was told that if he wanted to get his 'profit' of Rs7.5 crore, he would have to pay another Rs75 lakh. Upon refusal, the frauds blocked his trading app and also removed him from the WhatsApp group.

In another fraud, a cybercriminal managed to get access to a policeman's bank account after sending a malicious PDF file on WhatsApp. The fraud even transferred Rs6 lakh in 16 transactions. Interestingly, the scammer managed to transfer the amount despite the complainant having set a debit limit of Rs1 lakh in a single day.

According to the police, S B Tadvi, a resident of Badlapur posted at the Shivaji Nagar police station in Ambernath, received random WhatsApp messages from an unknown number on May 31. The file got automatically downloaded, said Tadvi, adding that the same was shortly deleted by the sender. Moments later, debit alerts from the bank started to flood the cop's phone.