Vadodara: A senior citizen was duped of Rs 87 lakh by a gang of cybercriminals who promised him rich returns on investments. Shyamlal Goyal, a resident of Harni-Sama Ring Road, filed a complaint of cheating against unknown persons at Cybercrime police station in the city.
Goyal told police that he received a link on WhatsApp in June this year. When he clicked it, he was added to another WhatsApp group where messages about investments were shared. Two days later, he got a message from one "Lydia" who said she was from a reputed investment firm.
Lydia told Goyal he would get valuable tips on stock trading and added him to another group. Goyal said he also profited from the tips after buying the recommended stocks. After winning his confidence, the cybercriminals sent him a link and asked him to register on a website. Goyal was told that he could trade from the website and need not use his demat account.
He was then told to transfer money into certain bank accounts, to fund his balance on the website. He then transferred Rs 87 lakh in 30 transactions. The bogus trading platform Goyal was told to use showed that he had made a profit of around Rs 4.87 crore. When he tried to withdraw some of the money in Aug, he was asked to pay Rs 24 lakh. Goyal refused to make any more payments and told the callers to debit it from his profits.
The crooks told him it was against the rules and removed him from the WhatsApp groups. It was then that Goyal realized that he had been duped.