Mumbai, September 2: A 61-year-old retired LIC employee from Goregaon West was allegedly duped of ₹97.70 lakh after responding to a Facebook advertisement promising high returns from stock market investments. Cyber fraudsters allegedly lured him into a fake WhatsApp group and cheated him under the pretext of share trading.
A complaint has been registered at the Cyber Police Station in Mumbai's North Region, and an investigation is underway. According to the complaint, the victim came across a Facebook advertisement on July 17, 2026, promising substantial profits through stock market investments. After clicking on the advertisement, he was added to a WhatsApp group named “773 BNP Paribas Stock Research Group”, which had around 195 members.
Two individuals identified as Rani Deshmukh and Sanjay Singh allegedly posed as stock market experts in the group. They promised returns of 5% to 20% per day on investments and also claimed that they could provide IPO shares at prices lower than the prevailing market rates. Convinced by their claims, the victim began investing money.
Victim Transfers ₹97.70 Lakh
The accused allegedly sent him a fake link and instructed him to open a demat account through the fraudulent platform. He was subsequently directed to transfer money into various bank accounts. Between August 5 and August 27, the victim allegedly transferred a total of ₹97.70 lakh.
The fake trading platform showed substantial profits running into crores of rupees in his account, allegedly reinforcing his belief that his investments were generating high returns.
However, when the victim attempted to withdraw the money, the fraudsters allegedly demanded a 20% service fee. They further asked him to pay an additional ₹39.36 lakh. This raised suspicion, prompting him to verify the details of the company.
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Cyber Police Trace Fraud Network
The victim allegedly discovered that the company had no genuine physical office, following which he realised that he had been cheated. Cyber police are now tracing the accused and investigating the fake trading platform, bank accounts used to receive the money and the WhatsApp group through which the victim was allegedly targeted.
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