Two men from Haryana have been arrested in connection with a Rs 22.7-lakh cyber fraud, in which a Delhi-based doctor was allegedly duped through a fake stock trading application promoted on WhatsApp.
The case came to light after Dr Amita Garg filed an online complaint on November 13, alleging that she had been added to a WhatsApp group named ‘Stan Chart Dialogue Forum L7’, where multiple administrators claimed to offer expert advice on demat share investments. One of the group’s administrators, identified as Yalini Guna, allegedly persuaded her to invest through a mobile application called SCIIHNW.
“Garg was unaware that demat shares could only be bought through SEBI-approved traders. She was also unaware that after buying the demat shares, she is supposed to receive messages from SEBI confirming her purchase and her ownership of the shares,” said an officer.
While Garg was at first suspicious of the app’s trustworthiness, she was initially allowed to withdraw cash from her account, which showed profits. Following this, she invested around Rs 2.7 lakh in multiple transactions and was allegedly shown higher profits on the app, said the officer.
“Whenever she attempted to withdraw money, she was pressured into investing more on various pretexts. Lured by the profits and lulled into trusting the accused as she was allowed to withdraw money, she transferred Rs 22.7 lakh before her access to the app was blocked. She then realised she had been defrauded,” the officer added.
An e-FIR under sections 318(4) and 340 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered at the Cyber police station in Shahdara.
During the investigation, police tracked part of the defrauded amount to a Bank of Maharashtra account linked to a resident of Hisar in Haryana. Call detail records and further technical analysis led police to two suspects – Sameer and Dev Singh, both aged 22 – who were apprehended on December 11.
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During questioning, Sameer allegedly admitted that he had opened multiple bank accounts and handed over their details to Dev Singh in exchange for Rs 4,000 per account. Police also recovered two mobile phones and three SIM cards from their possession. Both accused have been sent to judicial custody.
“The racket followed a common modus operandi, in which victims are approached through social media platforms and lured with promises of high returns on stock market investments. Initial gains are shown to build trust before victims are coaxed into investing larger sums, after which the fraudsters disappear,” the officer said, adding that a probe is underway to identify other members of the syndicate and trace additional money trails.
