A 29-year-old man from Sakinaka, Mumbai, has been arrested in connection with a sprawling Rs 5.39 crore investment scam linked to a fake trading platform, online romance manipulation, and a sophisticated cyber laundering network spanning multiple cities in India. The arrest reveals the expanding nexus of romance baiting and financial crime fueled by digital platforms.
The Bait: Romance and a Golden Investment
What began as a connection on the dating app Topface soon turned into a meticulously crafted financial trap. A retired businessman from Malabar Hill fell victim to a woman introducing herself as “Akriti Desai,” who claimed to be a successful entrepreneur from Noida.
Their online friendship soon transitioned into financial discussions, where Desai lured him into investing in a trading platform called Golden Bridge Investment Group—a front for a larger cybercrime syndicate.
Trusting her, the victim began investing in July 2024 and continued to do so until February 2025, pumping in a staggering Rs 5.4 crore. Initially, he received Rs 20 lakh as a supposed return, a classic tactic in Ponzi-style schemes to build investor confidence.
Trouble arose when he was promised “profits” of Rs 80 crore but was then asked to deposit 30% as “tax” to withdraw his funds—an alarming red flag that prompted the businessman to report the fraud.
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The Web: Accounts, Shell Companies, and Money Laundering
The police investigation soon led to Mohammad Kalim Akbar Ali Khan, a 29-year-old resident of Sakinaka, whose bank account had appeared in 51 cyber fraud cases across India. His role was not peripheral.
Authorities found his account used in 7 Layer 1 and 31 Layer 2 transactions, part of a broader money laundering infrastructure often used to obfuscate the trail of illicit funds.
Khan was also the proprietor of Maxmore Payment Digitech Pvt. Ltd., a registered company that allegedly handled at least Rs 5 lakh of the scammed amount. This corporate front served as a conduit for funneling stolen funds under the radar, camouflaged as digital business transactions.
According to sources the South Cyber Police had been tracking the syndicate through digital breadcrumbs, including bank records, WhatsApp chats, and photographic evidence. His arrest under the Indian Penal Code for cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust, and provisions of the Information Technology Act may be the first in a chain of indictments.
The Network: Multi-City Fraud and International Traces
Investigators believe Khan was only a node in a much larger web. The fraud’s architecture spans multiple cities, and international links are suspected—possibly involving overseas shell entities, fake digital identities, and rogue forex channels.
The woman posing as Akriti Desai remains unidentified and is presumed to be operating under a false identity, potentially from outside India.
This case highlights how romance scams are evolving from emotional manipulation into high-value financial crimes, using emotional bait to access life savings. The use of romance-fraud-investment hybrids signals a dangerous trend in cybercrime tactics, particularly targeting the elderly or financially comfortable retirees.
The South Cyber Police, while tight-lipped on further arrests, confirmed that inter-city raids and digital forensic analysis are underway to map the broader ecosystem. Authorities are also coordinating with the Financial Intelligence Unit and CERT-In to examine the laundering route and financial tech misuse.