Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Cyber fraudsters allegedly duped four residents of more than Rs 6.5 lakh in separate incidents involving fake investment schemes, a hacked WhatsApp account and fraudulent shopping applications, said police officials on Friday.
In the first case, a 42-year-old lab technician from Girdhar Parisar, Srinagar Colony, lost Rs 3.5 lakh after responding to a Facebook advertisement promising high returns from stock market investments.
After clicking the link, he downloaded an app and initially invested Rs 10,000, receiving an apparent profit of Rs 2,000 the next day. Encouraged by the returns, he invested about Rs 3.5 lakh.
The app subsequently showed a profit of Rs 2.82 lakh, but when he tried to withdraw the money, the fraudsters demanded additional deposits. He then realised he had been cheated and lodged a complaint.
In another incident, a 49-year-old private-sector employee from Danish Kunj, Kolar Road, lost Rs 65,000 after receiving WhatsApp messages from a friend's hacked mobile phone.
The message claimed that the friend's UPI service was not working and requested Rs 45,000 through a QR code.
He later sent another Rs 20,000. When he was unable to contact his friend, he became suspicious. His friend later informed him that his phone had been hacked and the messages had been sent by a fraudster.
In the third case, cyber fraudsters allegedly withdrew Rs 1.90 lakh from the bank account of a 51-year-old woman residing in Ambedkar Nagar under Kolar police station limits.
Meanwhile, a 39-year-old man living near JK Hospital on Kolar Road lost Rs 55,000 while searching for a product online.
