Hyderabad: A man was duped of Rs 18.5 lakh in Kamareddy district after being lured into an online trading fraud in Telangana on January 3.
The incident occurred at Machapur village in Yellareddy mandal. According to the Kamareddy police, the victim came in contact with a woman on Facebook in November 2025.
During the interaction, the woman briefed the victim about online trading, and promised high monetary returns. The woman asked him to use a trading app subsequently.
Soon after, the victim made an initial investment of Rs 50,000 followed by Rs 30,000 in the second instalment. The woman informed the victim that he had earned a profit of Rs 5,000 in a single day. Based on the initial success, the victim continued to invest Rs 18.5 lakh over time.
The app displayed a profit of Rs 18 lakh to the victim. However, when the victim tried to withdraw Rs 65,000 he could not and contacted the woman, who assured that the money would be credited within 24 hours or advised him to approach customer care.
When he contacted customer care, he was told that he could withdraw the amount only after paying an additional Rs 22 lakh.
Realising that he had been cheated, the victim lodged a complaint with the Cyber Crime Police. Despite repeated awareness programmes conducted by the police on online fraud, such incidents continue as people fall prey to false promises of high returns, sub-inspector Mahesh said. A case has been registered and an investigation is underway.
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