Noida: Two senior citizens, one of them a retired govt officer, lost over Rs 8 crore in online investment scams.
In a complaint filed with the cyber crime police on Nov 26, a man alleged that his father received a message about an investment opportunity on Oct 1. The message appeared to be from Franklin Templeton.
The complainant, Dharia, convinced his father, Jai, to join the stock market trading WhatsApp group. There were 73 members in the group, while some of them had profile pictures of people clad in police uniforms.
The group members were given trading tips and training for about 15 days. After a few days, the complainant's father was asked to invest Rs 7.7 crore in shares and IPOs. He borrowed money from friends and family and deposited it into accounts shared by the company. He was also given a web link to check his investments and more opportunities.
On Nov 21, when their profit started increasing to Rs 23 crore, Jai tried to withdraw the money. When he tried to do so, the group's mentor asked him to deposit Rs 3 crore as commission in exchange for withdrawing the money. When the victim said he didn't have the money, he was removed from the group. He checked the accounts and found out they were not registered with SEBI.
Based on Dharia's statements, a case was registered under sections 318(4) (cheating and dishonestly inducing the delivery of property), 319(2) (cheating by personation) of BNS, and section 66D of the IT Act.
"Our team took immediate action and froze an amount of Rs 1.02 crore. Apart from this, about 15 accounts have also been frozen. The cyber crime police are preparing to freeze the remaining amount as well," said Vijay Gautam, inspector of cyber crime police station.
In another case, a retired govt officer was cheated of more than Rs 65 lakh in an online investment scam. The scammers pretended to be part of the financial services enterprise Motilal Oswal Group.
In an FIR registered on Thursday, the complainant, a resident of Sector 49, said she received a message on WhatsApp from Motilal Oswal Group in Aug, offering investment opportunities. She was then added to two WhatsApp groups, and an account was opened through an app linked to the company, MOIA.
On Sept 3, the woman deposited Rs 1 lakh in the account for investment. The company then asked her to invest more money, and when she enquired about withdrawing her profits, she was told she could only do so after Oct 2. As the scammers pressured her, the complainant invested some Rs 63.45 lakh from her retirement fund.
Later in Oct, the scammers said they moved her investments to another stock and asked for more money. She invested Rs 9 lakh and asked them to let her withdraw her profits. They refused. After finding out that she no longer had access to her money, the complainant realised she was scammed.
Cyber crime police filed a case under sections 319(2) (cheating by personation), 318(4) (cheating and dishonestly inducing the delivery of property) of BNS, and section 66D of the IT Act.
Both the cases are being investigated.