Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Cyber fraudsters duped a retired government employee of Rs 24.76 lakh after luring him into a fake online stock trading scheme operated through a Whatsapp group and a fraudulent mobile application. On his complaint, the Crime Branch has registered a case and initiated an investigation.
According to reports, Mohammad Arif Zafar (67) resides in Koh-e-Fiza area. In his complaint, he said that in June last year he received a link on his Whats app from an unknown number. He was added to a Whatsapp group ‘Fires VIP Trading Strategy’ when he clicked on the link.
The group was run by a person identifying himself as Rajiv Mehta with some other people named Kritika Joshi, Sana Kapoor and others who actively engaged group members claiming themselves as professional trading experts.
They promised high returns through IPO, options trading and AI based trading. Screenshots and messages showing profits were shared to lure people for making investments. On their instructions, Zafar downloaded an application ‘Fires’ which displayed fake profits.
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Zafar transferred Rs 24.76 lakh to multiple bank accounts provided by the fraudsters using UPI, RTGS, NEFT etc.
However, later when Zafar attempted to withdraw his invested amount and profits, the accused demanded additional payments in the name of commission, capital gain tax and risk cover.
Fraudsters threatened to freeze his account when Zafar refused to pay more. Preliminary investigation by Cyber Crime Branch revealed that multiple mobile numbers, bank accounts and digital channels were used to execute the fraud.
