Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The year has only just begun, yet there has been a steep rise in cases of cyber fraud carried out on the pretext of online share trading.
In January alone, four such cases were reported in which cyber fraudsters siphoned off more than Rs 90 lakh from unsuspecting victims by luring them with promises of huge profits.
Cyber Crime Branch officials said the fraudsters followed a similar modus operandi in all cases.
The victims were contacted through social media and WhatsApp with promise of high returns from online share trading within a short time. They were sent links and once they clicked on the links, they were added to WhatsApp groups and Telegram channels where fake trading tips and screenshots of inflated profits were shared to gain their trust.
The victims were then persuaded to download fake trading applications which initially showed high returns on their investments. However, when the victims attempted to withdraw the so-called profits, they were asked to pay additional amounts as commission, GST or processing charges. In the process, many victims ended up losing lakhs.
Despite registering cases after preliminary investigations, police officials admitted that no accused had been traced so far in any of the four cases. However, in one case registered at Bilkhiriya police station involving a share trading fraud of Rs 3.95 lakh, police managed to hold Rs 1.63 lakh belonging to the victim which is expected to be returned.
All victims highly educated
Interestingly, all four victims who were duped this month are highly educated individuals. Among them are a retired bank manager, a private university teacher, an employee of a private company and a retired government employee.
On January 24, Misrod police registered a case of share trading fraud worth Rs 57 lakh with a retired bank manager Pankaj Srivastava.
On January 21, the Cyber Crime Branch registered a case of fraud worth Rs 24.76 lakh with retired government employee Mohd Arif Zafar.
On January 26, private company employee Vikram Singh reported a similar fraud worth Rs 4.90 lakh to Piplani police.
On January 22, Bilkhiriya police registered a case of share trading fraud worth Rs 3.95 lakh with Dilip Kumar, a teacher of a private university.
Same modus operandi in all cases
Cyber crime officials said that the scams followed an identical pattern. Social media links led victims to messaging platforms, where they were promised extraordinary returns through share trading. Fake apps were used to show artificial profits and repeated demands for money were made under various pretexts when victims tried to withdraw funds.
Links to multiple states
Officials further revealed that in most cases the mobile numbers and mule bank accounts used for the fraud were found to be based in Rajasthan. However, connections to other states such as Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Jharkhand and West Bengal have also surfaced during investigations.
However, the actual users of the fake SIM cards and bank accounts were rarely traced and arrested in past cases.
