A 57-year-old Chartered Accountant from Mulund East, Mumbai, lost nearly Rs 1 crore to a meticulously orchestrated online trading scam involving a counterfeit app named “R Gara.” The case exposes the growing threat of cybercrime networks exploiting trust and technology to defraud even financially literate individuals.
A Trusted Name and a Fake App: The Perfect Bait
In what police describe as a “highly organized and psychologically manipulative scam,” a veteran Chartered Accountant, a long-term resident of Mulund East, fell victim to a fraudulent stock trading operation between October and November 2024.
The ordeal began when the victim joined a seemingly innocuous WhatsApp group titled “Practice Proves Truth, R Gara” on October 4, 2024. With around 80–85 active participants, the group presented an image of authenticity, regularly discussing trading tips and promoting a trading platform accessible via the link app.kerieds.com.
Several group members, operating under aliases such as Arjun Hinduja, Ishani Mehta, and Sneha Bansal, played distinct roles: Hinduja positioned himself as an expert “trading professor,” while Mehta provided step-by-step trading advice. The presence of supposed representatives from an “H18 RBL Customer Service Center” lent an additional veneer of legitimacy.
Encouraged by daily updates showing consistent profits and professional communication, the victim downloaded the R Gara app, registered with his mobile number, and was swiftly inducted into a VIP subgroup offering “premium trading strategies.”
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Layered Deception: Consistent “Profits” and the Call for Bigger Investments
Over the course of just 25 days from October 4 to October 29, 2024 the CA transferred Rs 97,24,500 into multiple bank accounts provided by the group’s so-called customer service team. The money was sent in tranches, with each new “investment” justified by screenshots showing impressive trading gains within the app’s ecosystem.
The scam’s architecture was meticulously layered:
- Immediate small returns were shown to build initial trust.
- Fake profit dashboards displayed within the app encouraged larger investments.
- Exclusive IPO investment opportunities were offered to induce bigger financial commitments.
The final blow came when the victim resisted a demand to invest even higher amounts for “IPO participation.” His request to withdraw his existing “profits” was flatly denied. Suspicion set in, and by then, the damage had already been done.
The Long Road to Justice: A Delayed Realization, A Relentless Investigation
Realizing he had been conned, the CA filed an online complaint on January 5, 2025, through the national cybercrime reporting portal, followed by a formal FIR on February 14, 2025, at the East Region Cyber Police Station in Mumbai.
The FIR highlights how fraudsters:
- Created a fake trading environment to simulate real profits,
- Used multiple, frequently changing bank accounts to obscure the money trail,
- Exploited the victim’s professional pride and trust in formal-sounding institutions.
Authorities are now working to trace the digital fingerprints left behind. Investigators are focusing on the mobile numbers, IP addresses, and banking trails connected to the scam ring. Meanwhile, police have also warned the public to remain wary of unsolicited trading groups on messaging platforms.