Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Falling victim to an online trading scam, a businessman here lost over Rs 47 lakh. The accused added the victim, Bimal Goswami of Bairagarh, to a WhatsApp share trading group and lured him into investing through an application called Five Max.
Believing the promise of high returns, Goswami transferred over Rs 47 lakh only to discover later that he had been duped. After an initial inquiry, the Cyber Crime Police have registered a case against unidentified cyber conmen and begun an investigation.
This July, Goswami was added to the WhatsApp group that had over 100 members. Soon after, the members were introduced to the Five Max app, which was promoted as a platform for earning large profits through online trading.
Investigators said the conmen first encouraged Goswami to make small investments and showed him fabricated profits. Once they gained his trust, they convinced him to invest larger amounts. In total, Goswami transferred Rs 47,29,617 from his bank account to several other bank accounts in multiple transactions.
A few weeks later, the Five Max app stopped working, the WhatsApp group was deleted, and the admins could not be traced. Realising he had been cheated, Goswami reported the matter to the Cyber Helpline (1930) and subsequently lodged a complaint at the Cyber Crime Branch.
During the probe, investigators found that the defrauded amount was transferred to accounts in several banks. The Cyber cops are now coordinating with technical experts to trace the digital footprints of fraudsters and identify those behind the scam.
