Retired Noida engineer loses ₹80 lakh to WhatsApp ‘trading expert’; police probe on

According to police, the accused offered to help the complainant, a former engineer with a private firm, earn profits through online investments. “The man then added the complainant to a WhatsApp group where several members were already sharing screenshots of profits earned from investments. Convinced by the group’s activities, the engineer initially invested a small amount. Once he was able to withdraw the amount, he believed in the scheme,” an official said.

The complainant told the police that he reinvested the amount, along with additional funds, over the next few weeks. “In total, he transferred around Rs 80 lakh in more than 10 transactions to different bank accounts provided by the fraudsters. During the process, the accused made him install a fake trading application on his phone, through which he could see his ‘investments’ and ‘profits’ grow virtually,” the official added.

The official said that when the complainant tried to withdraw his funds along with the ‘profits’, the scamsters started demanding more money under the pretext of taxes and transaction charges. “When the engineer refused to make any further payments, he was abruptly removed from the WhatsApp group, and all the phone numbers used by the accused were found switched off,” the official said. The retired engineer then approached the police on Monday.

The preliminary investigation has revealed that the defrauded amount was transferred into several accounts opened using forged or rented identities. “We have initiated the process of freezing the identified bank accounts and have already managed to block a substantial portion of the cheated funds,” a police officer said.