Armyman loses Rs 40 lakh in share fraud by cyber criminals posing as financial company’s director

A 51-year-old serving Army personnel posted in Pune was duped of Rs 40 lakh by online fraudsters posing as the director of a financial services major, who manipulated him into transferring money to mule accounts on the pretext of stock and cryptocurrency investments.

A First Information Report (FIR) in the case was registered at the Wanawadi police station inPuneon Saturday, based on a complaint by the 51-year-old Army personnel posted with a defence establishment in the city.

Between September and December last year, the complainant was led to believe that he was investing through a legitimate phone-based trading application that carried the name of the financial services major.

In reality, the money was being transferred to mule accounts.

Initially, the complainant was added to a WhatsApp group after he clicked on a link on Instagram while scrolling through social media.

The fraudster, posing as a woman administrator of the group, identified herself as the assistant of the director of the financial services major headquartered inMumbai.

He was promised regular coaching in share trading by the director.

In the group, a large number of members were posting fake screenshots of high profits they were allegedly earning from investments.

The complainant was then asked to register on the fraudulent share trading application.

The fraudsters, posing as the director and his assistant, continued to give investment “tips” to the complainant and asked him to invest through the application.

The money, which the complainant believed was going to the investment platform, was in fact transferred to mule accounts.

He was also given a similar fake tip to invest in cryptocurrency, and the money he sent again went to mule accounts.

When the complainant said he wanted to withdraw the money, he was asked to pay a large sum as tax.

By that time, he had already transferred Rs 39.95 lakh in 12 transactions.

As he kept asking for the withdrawal, the fraudsters continued giving fake reasons.

It was then that he realised he had been cheated.

He then approached the cyber crime police station, and following a preliminary inquiry, an FIR was registered at Wanawadi police station on Saturday.

For over two and a half years now, the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad police have been dealing with what their cyber investigators describe as an epidemic — a sharp and troubling rise in online share trading fraud.

Scammers lure victims through various tactics such as trading tips, virtual seminars, mobile applications and promises of unusually high returns.

Authorities have also voiced concern that many citizens continue to fall victim to these schemes despite repeated advisories, awareness drives and extensive media coverage on the issue.

A large number of armed forces personnel and veterans have also fallen prey to these scams in the past.