Hyderabad: A 27-year-old chartered accountant from Gandipet has allegedly lost more than ₹2.4 crore in a stock trading investment scam after cyber fraudsters posed as market experts and promised substantial returns. The accused initially gained his confidence by showing what appeared to be genuine profits on a trading application and then persuaded him to invest increasingly larger amounts. When the victim eventually tried to withdraw his money, his trading account showed a negative balance and the fraudsters stopped responding.
Social Engineering Vectors and Simulated Trading Profits
Cyberabad cyber crime police registered a case on Wednesday following the victim’s complaint. According to the complaint, the fraud began in November 2025 when the victim was contacted by unidentified individuals through email and Telegram. They introduced themselves as stock trading and investment experts and promised high returns through their trading platform.
The transition from unsolicited Telegram signals to fake trading applications represents a critical cyber threat vector. By displaying simulated paper profits on a manipulated application dashboard, threat actors establish a high-trust manipulation vector, inducing victims to transfer real capital under the false pretense of legitimate equity trading.
Initially, the victim invested ₹2 lakh through the application. Within a few days, the account displayed profits of around ₹5 lakh. The fraudsters allegedly told him that these were genuine returns generated through stock market trading. Convinced by the apparent profits, the victim made another investment of ₹5 lakh. He was subsequently shown returns of approximately ₹9.5 lakh within a few days.
Multi-Layered Transfers, Negative Balances, and Evasive Tactics
The apparently successful investments encouraged the victim to put in more money. According to his complaint, between November 20 and December 31, he transferred money to various bank accounts provided through the platform in 52 separate transactions. The total amount transferred exceeded ₹2.4 crore. The victim told police that he had also taken loans to arrange funds for the investments.
The fraud came to light when the victim attempted to withdraw his money. His trading account suddenly showed a negative balance, following which the alleged fraudsters stopped responding. The group chat on the application became inactive, while the victim’s Telegram conversation history with the accused was also allegedly deleted.
The operational strategy under review relied on executing 52 separate transaction transfers across multiple mule accounts to evade single-point threshold limits. Fabricating sudden negative balances and wiping Telegram chat histories demonstrates how criminal networks sever communication channels once capital extraction peaks.
NCRP Filings, Statutory BNS/IT Act Charges, and Digital Audits
The victim made several attempts to contact the people who had persuaded him to invest, but could not reach them. He later discovered that the Exness application used for the alleged trading activity had been removed from the Google Play Store and that the platform had faced action related to fraudulent activity, according to his complaint.
After failing to recover his money through banking channels, the victim submitted a complaint through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal on July 27. He subsequently approached Cyberabad cyber crime police, who registered a case under Sections 318(4), 319(2), 336(3), 338, 340(2) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with Section 66-D of the Information Technology Act.
Executing technical transaction audits across the 52 bank transfers enables Cyberabad investigators to identify primary layer mule accounts. Auditing digital footprints, IP logs, and Telegram channel artifacts provides crucial evidence to trace the operators behind the fraudulent platform.
Cyber fraud investigators are examining the bank accounts into which the money was transferred, along with the digital platform, Telegram communications and transaction trail. Investigators are also working to identify the people behind the operation and trace the movement of the allegedly defrauded funds.
