Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Cyber fraudsters are using new methods to cheat people, and a fast-rising trend is “love fraud”, where a partner lures another into investing in bogus companies and later disappears with the money, police said on Monday.
State cyber police have received several complaints from victims who were promised high returns on investments but received nothing.
SP Pranay Nagwanshi told Free Press that in this love fraud scam, the cheater meets victim on social media and gradually builds trust. “In Bhopal, one case surfaced in which a victim lost his hard-earned Rs 3.17 crore. He met the racketeer on Facebook. They later exchanged numbers and shifted to WhatsApp,” he said.
After about a month, the racketeer went offline for two to three days. When she returned, the victim asked about her sudden disappearance. She claimed she had attended a party hosted by her boss in a luxury hotel.
When the victim asked about her work, she said she and her boss were involved in share trading and were making huge profits.
The victim expressed interest in investing. She shared a link, and he began putting in money as per her instructions. Initially, he received good returns, which strengthened his trust.
Later, he invested all his savings, jewellery belonging to his wife and mother, and even sold his house and land in Bhopal — putting a total of Rs 3.17 crore into the so-called trading business. On screen, his amount appeared to grow to Rs 83 crore.
But when he attempted to withdraw money, his calls were ignored and his messages avoided. Realising something was wrong, he approached police and filed a complaint, saying the “company people” were not returning his funds. Police investigated and informed him he had been cheated.
Pig butcher fraud
SP Nagwanshi said this term originated with Chinese scamsters. In such investment frauds, victims are shown huge returns to fatten them up, like pigs, before their money is taken. Once victims are drained of funds and scammers become rich, victims are abandoned.
Now the same playbook is being used in love fraud.
