Saturday, 21 September 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) arrested a man from Indore in Madhya Pradesh for allegedly duping a Roorkee resident of Rs 43 lakh. The deputy superintendent of police of tge STF cyber crime police station, Ankush Mishra said that the victim had registered a complaint in June 2024, stating that he was defrauded after being lured by a stock trading advertisement on social media. According to him, the victim came across an Instagram advertisement related to stock trading. Subsequently, he was added to WhatsApp groups named Fortune Alliance 701 and SVIP-2717, where he was promised high returns from investments in stock trading and IPOs. The victim was directed to a website, where he was asked to open an account. The fraudsters collected copies of his Aadhaar and PAN cards and convinced him to invest money. They even displayed fabricated profits of over Rs one crore on the fake website that made the victim beleive on the accused.
Mishra said that initially, the victim withdrew a small amount of Rs 2,000, which also increased his trust in the scheme. Over time, he was persuaded to deposit more funds into various bank accounts based in different locations, including Gujarat, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. The fake website displayed inflated profits, which convinced the victim to continue investing. However, at one point, the fraudsters claimed an IPO was launching and pressured the victim to invest further. When the victim tried to withdraw funds, they were told the account had gone into a negative balance and they needed to deposit an additional Rs 98 lakh to resolve the issue. The victim refused but eventually deposited Rs nine lakh after further pressure. This way, they duped the victims of more than Rs 43 lakh. The DSP said that the STF team investigated the case by tracing bank accounts and mobile numbers linked to the fraud. The team had earlier arrested one accused from Gujarat. After thorough investigation, another accused was apprehended in Indore on Friday. The STF recovered a mobile phone, bank passbook, and cheque book used in the crime from the accused. Mishra again warned the public against falling for investment scams and advise reporting any suspicious activity to the nearest police station or cybercrime unit.
