A 49-year-old air hostess from Wadala, Mumbai, has lodged a complaint with the Mumbai Cyber Police after losing ₹10.37 lakh in an online trading scam orchestrated through the Telegram app. The complainant, Shilpa Gaurang Bhasin, who works with Saudia Airlines, has been residing with her family on R.A.K. Road, Wadala, for the past 24 years.
According to the FIR, while in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on October 4, 2025, Shilpa received a message on Telegram offering paid commissions for liking videos on IMDb.com. She created an account under the name Shilpa36 and followed instructions, liking videos to earn small payments.
Scammers Gain Trust Through Small Payments
Shortly afterward, she was contacted by a woman identifying herself as Neha Bhatiya, claiming to be a representative of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group and introducing herself as Shilpa’s manager. Bhatiya collected personal details including name, profession, WhatsApp number, and UPI ID.
Shilpa received ₹1,500 via Google Pay from a woman named Mumtaz Devi, which helped build trust. She was added to a Telegram group named “CME Task Group 11010”, where she earned small commissions of ₹150 per task.
Fraud Escalates to Cryptocurrency and Share Trading
On October 5, Bhatiya persuaded Shilpa to invest in cryptocurrency and share trading via another link. She opened a new account named Shilpa0207 and transferred ₹2,000 to Gopal Nath via UPI. Another contact named Divit instructed her to buy ₹1,000 worth of Bitcoin and sell it, after which ₹2,800 was credited to her trading account.
Encouraged by this apparent success, Shilpa made multiple further transfers to different bank accounts, ultimately losing a total of ₹10,37,008 between October 4 and 6, 2025.
Fraud Realised and Complaint Filed
When asked to invest more money, Shilpa grew suspicious and informed her husband, Gaurang Bhasin, who discovered it was a fraud. She filed a complaint on October 8 through the National Cyber Helpline.
The Central Region Cyber Police have registered a case against unidentified persons, including Telegram users Neha Bhatiya and Divit, under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act.
Modus Operandi of the Scammers
Police said the accused created fake trading links, manipulated virtual profit dashboards, and used multiple bank accounts to collect money under the pretext of high-profit online trading. Investigations to trace the fraudsters and recover the money are currently underway.
