Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): City’s cyber cell on Friday said they have arrested three men who used to run a fake bulk trading and IPO investment website under the banner of Motilal Oswal PMS, and had duped thousands of people to the tune of crores of rupees, officials said. The officials added that they have found transactions worth Rs 15 crore from the bank accounts used by the accused for the crime.

Deputy commissioner of police (Crime) Akhil Patel told Free Press that some time ago, a man approached the city cyber cell, alleging that an unidentified person had duped him of Rs 86 lakh. The victim told police that the person had contacted him on WhatsApp and had convinced him to invest money in bulk trading, with the help of a link that appeared to be operated by Motilal Oswal PMS.

Officials launched a probe, and after amassing all the technical evidences, managed to arrest Sachin Kumar Gautam (30), Nikhil Singh Lodhi (21) and Aakash Kaurav (23). Sachin told police that he owned a bank account, which he used to give to Nikhil and Aakash on rent. The duo used to lure people into investing money, and used to upload them on the Motilal Oswal PMS app, owing to which the victim used to trust them easily.

Later, when the victim tried to withdraw money, the accused used to charge various amounts from him/her in the name of processing fee, and used to withdraw the money and go incommunicado. The cyber cell has seized three cell phones, 19 ATM cards, 13 bank passbooks and various SIM cards from the possession of the accused.