Hyderabad: City cyber crime police arrested two individuals for defrauding a victim of Rs 2.95 crore through an online trading fraud.
The accused, Sameer Hundekar and Deepak Sampath, residents of Bengaluru, Karnataka, swindled victims by promising high returns in fake trading schemes.
The complainant, a resident of Hyderabad, had approached the police in the month of August last year stating he had been a victim of cyber fraud and had lost Rs 2.95 crore in a span of one month.
According to the statement provided, the victim was added to a Whatsapp group called “Marval Capital” in July. The group offered stock market trading tips and was also advertised on YouTube. The victim seemed to believe the legitimacy of the trading platform endorsed by the group and over a month (from July 23 to August 23) ended up investing an amount of Rs 2.95 crore.
23 held for cyber fraud worth Rs 5.29 crore in Hyderabad
The fraudsters however siphoned this money using mule accounts with the help of a Dubai-based fraudster named Ritesh Soni. The duo provided Soni with banking credentials of mule accounts along with cheque books to facilitate the withdrawal of funds.
They also made use of shell companies with mule account holders falsely listed as proprietors. They received a 5 per cent commission for every transaction through these accounts.
The police seized 21 debit and credit cards from the accused along with 18 cheque books, 7 mobiles and 15 SIM cards.
The police have cautioned people to not fall for high-return investment schemes offered by unknown persons on social media platforms. They also warned against task-oriented investment offers and unauthorised websites offering high returns on small investments.
