online trading scam that started on the instant messaging platform WhatsApp. The victims were lured to significant profits via online trading.
One of the victims is a resident of Charholi Budruk and according to the FIR filed by him, the cybercriminals added the complainant to a WhatsApp group and told him that he could earn huge profits through online share trading. Later, they added his brother to the same WhatsApp group, a Times of India (ToI) report said.
Commenting on the case, senior inspector Vijay Dhamal of Dighi police said, “One of the brothers (53), who has lodged a complaint with us, is a software engineer and works with a company in Yerawada. His brother too is a software engineer.”
ToI reported Dhamal saying that the fraudsters had added the cellphone number of the techie to a WhatsApp group where they discussed profits earned by trading shares in January. Elaborating on the case, the senior inspector said that it was just a screen software which can be manipulated by the suspects.
Initially, the victim used the screen software to buy shares as it showed him a good profit, the ToI report said, adding that the fraudsters later asked the victim to invest in high-value shares to earn more profit.
In response the complainant invested Rs 1.68 crore while his brother transferred Rs 77.50 lakh to various bank accounts, thinking that the money was being invested into the stock market.
“After some time, they were falsely led to believe that they had earned Rs 8 crore in the share trading business. In