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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.
This post was last modified on October 1, 2026 9:53 am