A 59-year-old retired employee of GAIL (India) Limited has lost more than ₹28 lakh to a highly organized cyber crime gang. The fraudsters used a fake online trading app and clever social media tricks to cheat him. They made him believe he was making massive profits from stock market Initial Public Offerings (IPOs). Local police have launched a multi-state investigation to track down the scammers.
The fraud started on April 28, when the victim, a resident of Sneha Nagar under the Misrod police station area, was suddenly added to a WhatsApp community group without his permission. The group was filled with dozens of fake profiles sharing edited screenshots of huge profits. These profiles claimed they were making massive amounts of money by getting early access to unlisted corporate shares and institutional IPO blocks.
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How the Fake Trading Trap Worked
While reading the messages in the group, a woman claiming to be a financial expert messaged the victim directly. She spoke professionally, gained his trust, and convinced him to register an account on a special online trading website. She told him that this app belonged to a premium investment firm that could guarantee him a high number of shares in upcoming stock listings.
To make everything look real, the app was completely rigged. Whenever the victim deposited money, the numbers on his phone screen went up automatically. Believing that his money was growing rapidly, the retired public sector employee transferred his savings in four separate stages:
- He first sent ₹15.05 lakh to buy what he thought was a primary corporate IPO batch.
- He then sent ₹9.15 lakh and ₹1.36 lakh into two other stock schemes.
- Finally, he deposited ₹2.58 lakh into a fourth fake stock category hosted on a secondary website.
The Hidden Trap: Demanding 20% to Withdraw Money
Once the scammers absorbed his core retirement savings, the fake app showed that his total investment value had jumped to an amazing ₹67 lakh. This visual trick kept the victim excited and stopped him from realizing that his real money was actually being sent to underground bank accounts managed by the gang.
The entire scam fell apart when the retired executive tried to withdraw a portion of his profits to pay for personal expenses. The app operators immediately blocked his transaction. They sent him a message stating that his funds were locked by tax authorities and stock regulators. To unlock his money, they demanded that he pay an extra 20 percent processing fee out of his own pocket.
Police File Case and Track Bank Accounts
Realizing that he had been trapped in a well-planned cyber fraud, the victim stopped sending money. He immediately reported the incident to the government’s National Cyber Crime Portal.
After verifying the bank accounts and digital links used by the fraudsters, the cyber team registered an initial case. The matter was then passed to the local Misrod Police Station, where officers filed a formal First Information Report (FIR) for cheating and criminal conspiracy under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act.
Cyber experts are now auditing the internet server records and tracing the dynamic bank accounts across different states to find where the money was withdrawn. Police have warned the public never to trust investment advice from unknown WhatsApp groups or download unverified trading apps that promise guaranteed profits in the stock market.
