Gujarat: Teacher cheated of Rs 1.3 lakh in online fraud

VADODARA: A school teacher in Karjan town was cheated of Rs 1.3 lakh by three persons who had lured him promising huge returns by investing in forex trade last year.
The victim Kalpesh Patel lodged a complaint of cheating and criminal conspiracy against the trio at Karjan police station on Saturday.
Patel told police that in July last year he had received call from a man identified as Vikas Bhatt asking him to open a demat account with his company. He claimed that he is an advisor with Digitex Network Pvt Ltd in Navsari and they trade through another company named Binomo Trading. As Patel used to invest his savings in stock market and forex market, he got lured by Bhatt’s offer that he will receive at least 10% return.
Patel opened a demat account and initially invested Rs 70,000. Three weeks later, he found out that his invested amount had multiplied to Rs 3.25 lakh so he decided to withdraw his investment. When he contacted Bhatt, the latter told him that as per the company’s policy, 20% of the profit amount needs to be deposited in Binomo Trading’s bank account in Surat and he should contact his superior Anurag Sharma. Sharma asked Patel to deposit Rs 65,000 in the digital wallet and bank account of one Jitendra Kale.
On September 22 last year, Patel transferred Rs 62,000 and asked Sharma and Bhatt to transfer the profit amount to him. However, the duo refused to return the amount and when Patel asked to return Rs 1.32 lakh which he had transferred to them, they stopped taking his calls.
Police said that they have found Bhatt’s address in Navsari and Sharma’s address in Mumbai, but Kale’s whereabouts have not been known yet.