A retired Mantralaya employee from Vashi lost ₹4.71 crore over three months to a sophisticated online share-trading scam. The Mumbai crime followed a familiar pattern: an advertisement promising high returns on stock investments led to a link that, when clicked, added the victim to a WhatsApp group sharing trending stocks, IPO updates, and investment tips.
According to the complainant’s statement to the police, on November 30, 2024, he encountered a Facebook advertisement promoting stock investments through an investment firm. Clicking the provided link, he joined a WhatsApp group that claimed to offer investment tips. Relying on the recommendations shared in the group, he started ‘buying’ stocks using his wife’s demat account.
While the modus operandi of the scam remains familiar up to this point, a startling change was that the individual actually received ₹2 Lakh as a return in the initial days, according to this report. This raises the question: Have the scamsters become so bold that they are now prepared to use moderate amounts as bait? Or have they become resourceful enough to determine the financial capability of a prospective victim?
Victims returning some amounts of money happens in the ‘reviews scam’, another common Mumbai crime, where the victim is lured into the trap by being paid small amounts to review products, apps, etc. However, after a while, the victim is informed about more excellent tier programs, for which they have to pay money.
In this case, once the victim got the particular amount, the scam then escalated when the group administrator instructed the victim to download an app that claimed to offer even higher returns.
“To verify the agency’s authenticity, the victim requested company registration details, the corporate office address, and SEBI registration credentials. These details were promptly provided via WhatsApp, further reinforcing his belief in the system’s legitimacy,” said the investigating officer.
The complainant of this Mumbai crime ultimately transferred a total of ₹4.73 crore for ‘stock investments,’ relying on the app wallet, which falsely displayed a profit of ₹12.16 crore. “Eager to earn more, he even borrowed money from relatives,” the officer said, according to this report.
The Vigilant Blog covers the crime beat and has a finger on the pulse of the latest crimes and scams. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get more news like this.
He realised he had been defrauded on March 5, when he attempted to withdraw his supposed earnings but was unable to do so. The fraudulent agency and the mastermind of the Mumbai crime claimed his bank details were incorrect, leading to his wallet being frozen. To reactivate it, he was asked to pay 10% of the wallet balance—₹1.20 crore—as a margin fee. “When he said he couldn’t afford it, the demand was lowered to ₹40 lakh. That’s when he finally realised he had been scammed,” the officer added.
Covers the crime beat, spreading awareness about crimes, scams and everything dastardly.
Discover more from The Vigilant Blog
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.