Citizens fall victim to stock trading scams

MUMBAI: The cyber police have seen a spike in the number of complaints received regarding stock-trading scams, where services claim to provide tips on stock trading ensuring large profits to their clients, but end up duping them. In the last 10 days, five such cases have been registered by the Western region cyber police, amounting to ₹1.73 crore. The individual amounts that the complainants lost range from ₹64 lakh to ₹14.5 lakh. Pramodkumar Khosla, 72, received a message about a wealth doubling plan in December. He was then added to a group where the members had access to recorded lectures about investment strategies and even received tips regarding stock trading.

“I was then asked to download an app on which my investments and returns were calculated. Through the tips, I was told about upper circuit shares (whose values are on a constant upward trend),” Khosla told the police. A few of his initial investments yielded good results, so when he was told to make a big investment for an IPO (Initial public offering), he spent ₹64 lakh. When he tried to withdraw the money, the group admins went silent and removed him from the group.

In similar cases, a Bandra-based housewife Jayashree Dilkhe lost ₹43.25 lakh, Versovabased businessman Asad Khatav lost ₹36 lakh, designer Nirav Ganatra lost ₹14.30 lakh, and Avantika Nanda from Andheri lost ₹15.60 lakh.

In all these cases, the complainants have named different companies, which makes us believe that cyber frauds have taken up the same modus operandi (see box), said an officer from cyber police. Deputy commissioner of police Datta Nalawade who has the additional charge of cyber police said that many of the frauds do not hesitate to use names of popular and genuine services in the domain of trade analysis either. “Instead of people who approach them over Whatsapp or social media, they must engage with established services with physical offices that they can visit,” he said.