In an investigation on a cyber investment fraud racket, an Enforcement Directorate (ED) group caught four people last month, including one from Bengaluru, for attracting young and new investors into the stock market and stealing their money through illegal means.
Shashi Kumar M, 25, Sachin M, 26, Kiran S.K., 25, and Charan Raj C., 26, were arrested by ED sleuths in connection with the cyber investment fraud.
The arrests occurred last month (August 2024), following a number of searches and raids in several places. The ED team collected a variety of incriminating evidence during its raids, including mobile phones and other digital devices. So far, it has discovered proceeds of crime totaling more than Rs 25 crore in the cyber investment fraud.
These cybercriminals used a variety of strategies, including seeking innocent customers and robbing them of their hard-earned money by convincing them to invest in stock markets using fake and fraudulent apps. Their operation was likewise not restricted to a single state; rather, their network included many zones.
Their victim in Haryana’s Faridabad was a lady who was scammed out of Rs 7.59 crore by scammers who convinced her to buy in stocks via fraudulent apps. The victim had clicked on a share market investment link while surfing Facebook, and she was then invited to the ICICI IR Team WhatsApp group (57). A businessman in Noida was defrauded of Rs 9.09 crore by scammers who added him to a WhatsApp group called GFSL Securities official Stock C 80. He was persuaded to download an app and then transferred Rs 9.09 crore to several bank accounts offered by the app’s customer service.
A doctor in Punjab’s Bhatinda was scammed into downloading a fake app called GFSL Securities while surfing Facebook, resulting in a loss of Rs 5.93 crore. The strategy of these cyber investment fraudsters remained consistent: attracting victims via common social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, and others; adding interested investors to WhatsApp/Telegram groups and convincing them of their honesty with fake names; and providing investors with links to fake apps to download and install to complete their investment.
The apps have titles after companies, giving the appearance that they are real. Scammers then trick victims into investing their money in shell company bank accounts and fake initial public offerings. Initially, investors receive good returns, but once confidence is established, a large portion of their funds are diverted off to some fictional business. They are unable to withdraw money from there and then need to rely on customer care, but to no use.
Also read: DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) Batch 2 Changes and Expectations from BFSI sector
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