Palghar: Cybercrime continues to escalate in Palghar, with another incident of a massive financial fraud coming to light. Just a few days after a similar case of a senior citizen being defrauded of several crores, a 76-year-old man has fallen victim to a cyber scam, losing nearly ₹1.08 crore. The fraud was carried out under the pretext of making profits from investments in the stock market.
About The Case
The victim, Mohan Arjun, a retired individual, was scammed between December 2024 and March 2025. Originally from Haripurkalan in Uttarakhand, Mohan currently resides at the Manor Suncity Complex in Palghar. While browsing social media, Mohan came across a video related to a "Samco Security Scheme" in the stock market and liked it. Shortly after, he was added to a group named "VIP 826" via a mobile number.
Within this group, two numbers, one belonging to Shambhavi and the other to Sanya, were involved in the scam. Sanya provided Mohan with information related to stock market transactions and allegedly opened an OTC account in his name on the VIP group platform. She then sent him a certificate confirming the account's opening and asked him to deposit money into the bank account listed on the certificate.
Initially, Mohan deposited ₹17.1 lakh, which was shown as successfully credited to his account. Following this, the group representatives informed him that his investment had grown to ₹2.95 crore in the Samco app. They further convinced him that he could withdraw the amount, but only after paying a "service tax" of ₹40 lakh. Mohan, trusting them, deposited the service tax amount into the bank account provided.
Afterwards, Mohan was once again enticed with the promise of even higher returns. He was told that his investment had now grown to ₹3.14 crore, but again, a service charge of ₹51 lakh was required to access the funds. Believing the claims, Mohan deposited another ₹1.08 crore as service tax.
However, after the final payment, Mohan was unable to access any of the funds, and the scammers went silent. Realizing that he had been defrauded by what he now understood to be the Samco Trading Company, Mohan filed a complaint with the Palghar Cyber Police Station.
On March 28, the police registered a case under cyber fraud and the IT Act. Investigations are ongoing, and the police are working to track down the perpetrators. This case serves as a stark reminder of the growing threat of cyber scams targeting vulnerable individuals, particularly senior citizens.
