85-year-old loses Rs 22 crore in share trading cyber fraud

According to the complaint, on October 25, the victim was added to a WhatsApp group named ‘Special Training Team’, where administrators and participants discussed various share market investment opportunities. He was asked to submit personal and financial details and was made to register on a fraudulent mobile application.

Subsequently, cyber fraudsters posing as group administrators and stock market experts began sharing what they claimed were share trading tips. The fraudsters provided fake investment inputs along with bank account numbers to which money was to be transferred. Each transaction made by the complainant was reflected on the fraudulent application, showing disproportionately high returns. These fabricated returns, shown to be multiple times the invested amount, repeatedly lured him into transferring more money.

Over a period of nearly three months, the complainant transferred Rs 22.03 crore in around 80 transactions to mule accounts. Against the total “investment” of Rs 22 crore, the fraudulent application showed gains of Rs 45 crore. When the complainant sought to withdraw the amount, he was asked to pay Rs 4 crore as tax on the earnings. It was then that he realised he had been cheated. He subsequently approached the Cyber Crime Police Station along with his son, following which an FIR was registered.

For more than two-and-a-half years now, Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad police have flagged what cyber investigators describe as an epidemic — a worrying surge in online share trading fraud cases. Fraudsters use a range of baits, including trading tips, virtual lectures, mobile applications and promises of exorbitant returns. Police officials have expressed concern over citizens continuing to fall prey to such scams despite repeated advisories, awareness drives and extensive media coverage.

In an advisory issued last year, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said, “Fraudsters are enticing victims through online trading courses, seminars, and mentorship programs in the stock market, leveraging social media platforms like WhatsApp or Telegram, as well as live broadcasts. Posing as employees or affiliates of SEBI-registered Foreign Portfolio Investors, they coax individuals into downloading applications that purportedly allow them to purchase shares, subscribe to IPOs, and enjoy ‘Institutional account benefits’—all without the need for an official trading or Demat account. These operations often use mobile numbers registered under false names to orchestrate their schemes.”