Hyderabad: At least three senior citizens were allegedly duped of Rs 4.4 crore in separate cyber frauds in Hyderabad under the Malkajgiri police limits.
One of the cases pertains to a fake “digital arrest”. In the case, a 62-year-old was duped of Rs 1.72 crore in an investment fraud. The victim filed a complaint with the Cyberabad cybercrime unit on March 12.
The victim stated that on January 9, he received a message regarding stock trading and joined a WhatsApp group. He said that members of the group were encouraged to invest in block trades, qualified institutional placement (QIP) stocks, and IPO allotments using what was described as an institutional trading account. After initially transferring Rs 5 lakh to a bank account, he continued making deposits.
Between January 14 and March 9, he made atleast 25 transactions, transferring a total of Rs 1,71,74,000 to various bank accounts and UPI IDs shared by the accused.
The website allegedly showed large profits and even allowed a test withdrawal of Rs 1,000 initially to gain the man’s trust.
The account later showed a value of Rs 32.53 crore, gained through investments in IPOs. When the victim tried to withdraw the profits, he was asked to pay a commission of Rs 65 lakh, after which the withdrawal option became inactive.
Digital arrest
The second case pertained to digital arrest, where the victim, who is a 76-year-old retired All India Radio employee and a resident of LB Nagar, was cheated of Rs 80 lakh. In his complaint, the man said that on March 5, he received a call from a fraudster claiming to be a telecom department officer.
The fraudster claimed that the victim’s Aadhar card was used to purchase a sim card in Mumbai on January 29. He said that the card was used to promote illegal advertisements and harassment. The fraudster tricked the victim that a First Information Report (FIR) was filed a ginst him and that the Central Bureau of Instigation.
During this time, another fraudster joined the call claiming to be the chief investigation officer. The victim was forced to join a video call where another person posing as a judge of a Prevention of Money Laundering Act Court. The fraudster displayed forged documents from the Supreme Court afte which the victim was forced to pay the amount.
Crypto fraud
In the third case, a 69-year-old retired government employee was duped of Rs 1.89 crore in a crypto trading fraud.
In his complaint filed on March 12, the Kukatpally resident stated that on joined an AI-based trading service after seeing an advertisement on Instagram on November 20.
A woman identifying herself as Maheswari contacted the victim, claiming to be an investment advisor, and asked him to download a mobile app linked to the platform. He initially deposited Rs 23,000, and the platform showed small profits and even allowed to withdraw Rs 276, which increased his trust in the trading service.
By December 9, the account allegedly showed profits of Rs 83,32,636, and when he attempted to withdraw Rs 74,6,788, the platform demanded several charges, including an 8 per cent conversion fee ($ 5,92,543), capital gains tax, transaction fee, gas fee, crypto tax, securities transaction tax (STT), swap charges, overseas transaction fee and declaration charges.
Despite making multiple payments, he was not allowed to withdraw the money. The Cyberabad cybercrime police have registered and the investigation is underway.
