Mumbai: A retired Air Force officer lost Rs 1.45 crore in a share market investment scam. The fraudsters told him to download a bogus app, which showed his earnings rising to Rs 8 crore. However, when the 63-year-old tried to withdraw the whopping amount, he failed, making him realise the fraud.
According to the FIR, S Kothari, who resides in Powai, retired from the Air Force as a commander in 2011 and is currently working as a commercial pilot. On January 8, he was added to a WhatsApp group named Point Break LP. He searched for it on Google and found that Point Break was an investment company for share trading.
Kothari said that the members regularly shared information related to share market investments in the group. Later, one Arun, who introduced himself as a customer service manager, answered his queries.
Subsequently, the scammers sent him a link and instructed him to download the Point Bre app. Kothari followed their instructions, filled in all his details and received an ID and password. Based on the tips received via WhatsApp, he purchased shares through the app after which Arun sought money under various pretexts and took Rs 1.45 crore, said Kothari.
He said that when he failed to withdraw his earnings, he contacted Arun, who avoided his queries. Later, when Kothari demanded a refund, no one responded. Soon after, the WhatsApp group was deleted and the scammers went incommunicado.
