Pune: A man (53) lost Rs 61 lakh after cybercrooks in two separate mobile messenger groups promised him good profit after investing in share market via them between June and Nov 2025.According to the Sant Tukaramnagar police, the victim works at an engineering firm at Chakan MIDC. The fraudsters contacted him through a mobile messenger application and assured him good returns on investing in the share market via their firm.“Initially, the man transferred small amounts. Later, crooks told him to invest more for better returns and the victim transferred Rs 2 lakh,” senior police inspector Gorakh Kumbhar of the Sant Tukaramnagar police told TOI.Afterwards, the crooks sent him a link to download an app, which showed that the victim’s profit reached Rs 15 lakh. Within a few days, the profit rose to Rs 55 lakh in Aug 2025. “When he tried to withdraw, the crooks told him to pay 30% of his profit amount. As the victim had so such money, the crooks pretended to send him a credit note,” Kumbhar said.The officer said the crooks sent him an email claiming that the victim had duped the company and he would pay a fine and continue trading. The victim transferred Rs 34.9 lakh between Aug and Nov to different bank accounts. He could still see a profit of Rs 1.44 crore in the app.“While dealing with one such fraudulent firm, the victim joined another group of investors on a mobile messaging app in Nov. He opened 1 more app and invested Rs 26.2 lakh to the bank account numbers provided to him,” the officer said.The crooks told the victim that the value of IPOs allotted to him reached Rs 32 lakh. “When he tried to withdraw his money, the crooks demanded more money,” he said.Kumbhar said collectively the victim lost Rs 61 lakh to cybercrooks. “When he realized he was being duped, he approached the police. We have sought the details of these transactions from the victim’s bank. Our investigations are on,” Kumbhar said.
