Ahmedabad: Online stock trading scam claimed yet another victim, this time a 60-year-old woman from the city’s Satellite area, who lost Rs 86.7 lakh. The victim, who retired as a pharma industry professional, was unsuspectingly pulled into the scam being run from a social media platform.
In her complaint filed on Saturday, the woman told police that she lives with her elderly father and husband, a retired bank employee. The couple hold accounts in a nationalised bank and regularly use net banking and digital payment facilities. She said she is active on social media, and also invests in the stock market through a legitimate trading application.
On Nov 5 last year, the complainant came across an advertisement on Facebook claiming to offer high returns through share trading. After clicking on the advertisement, she was added to a WhatsApp group that projected itself as a stock market advisory platform.
After the first group was closed, the complainant was added to another ‘VIP’ WhatsApp group, where trading tips and instructions were provided. She was then directed to click on a link that led to a website and an application claiming to be a stock trading platform. Using her PAN card details and email address, she was guided to create a login on the application.
The complainant was instructed to deposit money into various bank accounts provided through WhatsApp messages. She initially transferred Rs 5,000 and was shown profits on the application dashboard. She was even allowed to withdraw Rs 37,000.
She continued transferring funds, sometimes from her husband’s bank account as well, into multiple accounts. The application continued to show rising profits, but when she later attempted to withdraw her invested amount and earnings, the requests were denied. She was asked to pay additional amounts in the name of commission and processing charges, the complaint states.
Suspecting fraud, the complainant reported the matter on the national cyber crime portal and the cyber crime helpline in late Dec.
