Pune: A 52-year-old engineering consultant from Wadgaon Khurd filed a complaint with Pune Cyber Police on Friday, alleging that online fraudsters duped him of Rs 72.50 lakh between April and July by promising high returns on investments in online share trading.Police said the consultant holds two accounts with a private bank. On April 19, he received a message via a cellphone messaging app containing a link. Upon clicking it, his phone number was added to a group chat where members were actively discussing the high returns they claimed to earn through online stock trading.The victim was convinced by group members’ testimonials and contacted the admin, who sent a link to a trading app. After downloading it, the victim started investing in low-value shares. The admin then prompted him to invest in high-value stocks and IPOs. The police said, “The group admin assured the victim of assistance and requested him to transfer funds to his bank accounts, claiming he would purchase shares on the victim’s behalf. Trusting him, the victim transferred a total of Rs 72.50 lakh across seven different bank accounts.”The FIR stated, “The application showed a collective profit of Rs 22.54 crore, and the victim decided to sell the shares for the profit. But, the suspects demanded Rs 2.25 crore to allow him to sell the shares. The victim then became suspicious and approached the police.”Karvenagar resident loses Rs 53LA retired man (66) from Karvenagar lodged a complaint with the Pune Cyber Police on Friday evening, stating that online fraudsters cheated him of Rs 52.88 lakh by promising handsome returns by trading shares online. The cheating took place in June this year.
