A 55-year-old man fell prey to scammers and lost over Rs1 crore in shares investment fraud. According to the Thane police, the complainant is a resident of Thane and works as a manager in a private company. On January 7, the complainant received a phone call from a woman asking if he was interested in a share investment. In order to complete the KYC process, the man shared images of his Aadhaar card and PAN card with the caller over WhatsApp.

The said woman then induced the complainant to download a bogus trading app on his phone and also got the complainant’s mobile number added in a WhatsApp group in which tips regarding share market investment were being provided. Initially the complainant was able to withdraw money from the app after which he believed that he was trading through a genuine platform.

Thereafter, between January 7 and February 14, the complainant transferred Rs1.19 crore from his bank accounts in the beneficiary bank accounts provided by the scammer in over 30 transactions. Later, when the complainant asked the scammer to help him withdraw the money, he was asked to pay more money as taxes.

The complainant made several attempts to withdraw his money from the app, but his requests were repeatedly denied, after which he realised that he had been scammed. He then approached the police and got an offence registered. The complainant has provided details of the WhatsApp group floated by the scammers, their contact details, bogus trading app details and transaction details to the police in his complaint.

A case has been registered by the police under section 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act in the matter.