Share trading scams are among the most notorious ongoing scams. People have been losing lakhs and crores to these scams. The modus operandi of the typical share trading scam has remained essentially unchanged for a long time. However, it seems that there is some deviation now.
Earlier, scammers would contact victims directly on WhatsApp with information about their fake market trading app. Once the person downloads the app, the scammers dupe them into transferring various amounts of money into the app’s wallet or even to other accounts. Finally, when the person wants their money back, the scammers either ask for more money under various pretexts or simply disappear.
While this is still largely the blueprint, one of the latest victims has claimed that they got in touch with one such scammer after receiving a message in a common WhatsApp group that shared links to e-versions of newspapers. The victim ultimately lost approximately INR 30 Lakh and has filed a case under the relevant sections of the law.
A New Modus Operandi for Share Trading Scam Apps?
This, of course, makes the modus operandi murkier. Are scammers paying off moderators of such WhatsApp groups to mine people’s numbers? Are the moderators as clueless as the actual victims are about whatever is going on? Of course, there are some dos and don’ts for group moderators.
One of them includes the rule that only the moderators can post a message in a particular group, and not anyone else. The FIR clearly states the scammer did not personally connect with the victim via a private message. The scammer sent a message in the common group. The FIR clearly states that the victim got the link to the scam app from the group. If the group moderator had followed what’s standard SOP of running such a group, there’s a chance that the scammer wouldn’t have a free hand in getting victims.
The choice of the particular WhatsApp group is also quite interesting. The question remains: Are there many people interested in digital versions of the newspaper? How big was the group? Some newspapers offer their digital versions for free, while others charge a nominal amount. All in all, what the police investigation reveals remains to be seen.
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