Hyderabad: A 65-year-old retired banker from Hyderabad was duped of Rs 98 lakh in a trading app fraud after being lured to make investments.
On Tuesday, September 29, the victim, a PhD scholar in economics, filed a complaint with the Cyberabad police stating that he joined a WhatsApp group, HSL Capital, on July 8 after clicking on a Facebook advertisement about stock market investment.
He said that a woman, identifying herself as Nisha Verma, who claimed to be the secretary to a senior banker, provided him with stock trading tips.
“Using her tips, I traded stocks through my personal demat account and made a profit. On her advice, I downloaded an app, HSL Cap, and started depositing money into different bank accounts of SEBI-approved stock brokers. I started with Rs 20,000 on July 23,” the complainant added.
Despite the profit shown in the app, the victim was not able to withdraw it. Fraudsters offered him a Rs 50 lakh interest-free loan to fund his IPO purchase, which he later repaid. After the app showed a profit of about Rs 1.76 crore, the victim sought to withdraw the money. He was asked to pay a series of fees and taxes to avoid scrutiny by the Enforcement Directorate.
The Cyberabad police registered a case of cheating under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and relevant sections of the IT Act. An investigation has been initiated.
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