HYDERABAD: Two software professionals in the city were cheated of Rs 3.54 crore in two separate online investment frauds. In both cases, fraudsters lured the victims with promises of high returns and later demanded additional payments in the name of taxes.
In the first case, a 44-year-old resident of Gachibowli told police that he met a woman claiming to be Akshita Reddy on a chat app. After moving their conversation to WhatsApp, she introduced herself as a financial advisor and persuaded him to open an account on the Century Finance app for trading.
Trusting her, the victim initially invested Rs 31.50 lakh and received what appeared to be profits. Encouraged, he sold long-held shares and invested another Rs 42.27 lakh. He was later persuaded to take a ‘top-up loan’ of Rs 98 lakh with zero fees, which he also invested.
When he attempted to withdraw the funds, the platform demanded additional payments towards ‘taxes’. To meet these demands, he borrowed from friends and sold properties. He eventually realised he had been cheated and reported the matter to the Cyberabad cybercrime police, stating a total loss of Rs 2.14 crore.
Lured by online advertisements
In another case, a 47-year-old resident of Kukatpally said he joined an online trading platform after seeing advertisements on YouTube and Instagram on October 16. He became part of a WhatsApp group named ‘A199 BW SMART TRADERS’, which claimed to offer expert guidance in stock market trading.
The group, led by individuals identifying themselves as Prof Dileep Kumar Singh and Jaya Singh, promised high returns through block trading, IPO allotments and upper-circuit stocks using an application called WIBPL-PLUS. On their advice, the victim downloaded the app through links provided by wealthy.in and began investing.
When he tried to withdraw his money, he too was asked to pay additional amounts towards taxes. He later realised he had been cheated of Rs 1.4 crore and lodged a complaint with the Cyberabad cybercrime police.
Police have registered two cases and launched separate investigations.