A group of tech-savvy fraudsters, a social media group, a fake stock trading app, agents who can source bank accounts of small-time businessmen and farmers and a small room with a computer – this is all it takes to swindle crores of rupees from stock traders across the country. This what an Avadi police team found after it busted a module and went to Anand district in Gujarat to nab a member of a gang which swindled lakhs of rupees from a GST official using a fake stock trading app.
Nearly 90% of the cybercrime complaints received across the city pertain to this scam, say police.
In the first week of December 2023, police said, GST official Manoranjan Kumar 35, of Mangadu clicked on an advertisement on a social media platform. A woman calling herself Aditi contacted him and added him to a WhatsApp group, ‘Ashish Shah’s Dalal Street Trading Champions: VIP-2,’ whose 21 members were directed to download CHE-SES, an app, from https://choiceses-india.com.
They were then asked to subscribe to the IPO of a company each of whose shares cost Rs. 52. Manoranjan, who bought 7,000 shares of this company as well as those of other companies, between Dec 13, 2023 and Jan 8, 2024, transferred nearly Rs. 39 lakh to the bank accounts and UPI IDs mentioned. Police said the gang also had a fake trading app that showed the growth in the money invested. Manoranjan realised he was conned when he could not withdraw the invested money and complained to the Avadi police’s central crime branch.
A cyber-crime inspector-led team, formed by Avadi commissioner K Shankar, tracked the accounts to which the money was transferred and traced one of the account – holders to Anand. The team stayed there for five years and arrested Premaram, 43, Rajasthan native who settled in Gujarat 20 years ago. Premaram, whose account was used to transfer the first instalment of Rs. 5 lakh deposited by Manoranjan. himself set up an office, ‘Comsoft’, to transfer huge amounts of money.
“Bank officials said cybercrime officers warned him, but he did not respond,” said a police officer.
The main operators, who are not from India, have agents to collect credentials of dormant bank accounts or those of poor farmers and traders. While some are not aware of the scam, many allow the use of their accounts for a commission. “Investors should never use unauthorised stock trading applications. They must always trade through authorised pesons.”
Source: The Times of India
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