KOCHI: When an 80-year-old Aluva woman saw that she had made good profits in the chart shared by an ‘online share trading’ firm, where she had made heavy investments over a period since last November, she decided to withdraw a substantial amount. But she grew suspicious when the WhatsApp group administrators’ activities stopped abruptly and their phone numbers became unreachable.
The woman then lodged a complaint with the Ernakulam Rural police, leading to the unravelling of a mafia operation disguised as an online trading group and the arrest of the key suspect, 27-year-old Vijay Sonkhar, from Chamundanagar in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on Wednesday. The arrest was connected with a cyber theft of approximately Rs 1.25 crore belonging to the woman.
After receiving the complaint, the Ernakulam District Police Chief Vaibhav Saxena assigned the investigation to the crime branch and formed a special investigation team under his supervision.
The initial probe revealed only the scamster’s name, Vijay, who had no permanent address, with the only clue pointing to a rural area near Ahmedabad. The squad flew to Gujarat.
Commenting on the probe, an officer with the squad said, “We identified a large, well-constructed building in what appeared to be a colony. Using this address, the suspect had created a fake company called ‘VS Trade,’ obtained a GST certificate, and opened a current account in a leading private bank to facilitate widespread fraud.”
The investigators discovered that transactions worth crores had been conducted through his account, the officer said.
“After spending several days in disguise at various locations, we finally managed to capture the suspect in a daring operation,” he added.
The victim, who is highly educated and tech savvy, joined the online trading group through a social media platform. “Being a member of a financially sound family, she is wary of cyber scams and traps. Here, the fraudsters including the detained Vijay entered the scene and promised substantial profits on her investments. On a trial basis, she invested a small amount. To gain her trust, the scamsters sent her a small return, which convinced her to continue investing large sums in the accounts they provided,” said the officer.
The consistent display of significant profits on their online pages, led her to invest a total of around Rs 1.25 crore at various stages.
“She realised the fraud while attempting to withdraw her money,” the officer said.