Hyderabad: A 34-year-old unemployed man from Hyderabad was refunded Rs 39 lakh, by the Hyderabad city cyber crime police, which he lost to stock trading fraud.
The victim was cheated of Rs 78,70,500 by cyber fraudsters, who lured him into investing money with “MSTOCKMAX”, by promising huge profits. After gaining the victim’s trust with small returns initially, the fraudsters provided multiple bank accounts, to which the victim sent money, as an investment.
Upon the realisation that he had been cheated, the victim complained to the cyber crime police. The police registered a case under sections 66(C), 66(D) of the IT Act, and sections 319(2), 318(4), for cheating 338 and 336(3) and 340(2) for forgery under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The police followed the money trail, sent notices to the concerned banks, and froze the fraudulent amounts. The amount that could be recovered was refunded to the victim.
Hyderabad cyber crime police appealed to the citizens to be vigilant and not to fall into similar traps, urging them to take advice from a SEBI-approved financial adviser before investing and use SEBI-approved apps for investment.
The police cautioned citizens against ads promising higher returns over investments with minimal risk popping up on almost every digital platform including Telegram, WhatsApp, X, Instagram, and Facebook. Hyderabad police asked citizens never to trust such ads showing huge returns and fake profit screenshots.
The police said if one feels cheated, there is a chance to get back at least a part of the lost money if the incident is reported immediately. Citizens can report instances of similar scams via the hotline number 1930 or through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.
