Cyber fraudsters dupe Ex-IPS officer's wife of Rs 2.58 crore in online investment scam

Hyderabad: Cyber fraudsters cheated the wife of a former IPS officer here to the tune of Rs 2.58 crore after luring with promises of higher returns on share market investments.

The woman stated in a police complaint that she received an unsolicited invitation on an instant messaging app in November last year offering huge profits through investments in the stock market.

Since she is not technically proficient in online trading platforms, she requested her husband to join the group on the app on her behalf which he did on November 29.

Soon thereafter, a person identifying himself as Dinesh Singh, started conducting classes and discussions by sending detailed messages in the group.

His messages were highly scholarly and analytical which created strong confidence among the group members, including herself.

The said Dinesh Singh and his associates informed the group members that they should carry out trading though a SEBI- registered entity in India and also posted copies of SEBI registration certificates in the group.

As per these instructions, she opened a trading account with her husband's help, in his name and using credentials.

Subsequently, believing representations made by Dinesh Singh and under continuous inducement, she deposited substantial amounts, including by availing gold loans in her name and in her husband's name solely for the purpose of participating in a so-called IPO.

During this period, her husband repeatedly cautioned her that she was being provided different current account numbers of various banks almost on a daily basis, with accounts located in West Bengal, Assam, Bhubaneshwar and Delhi, which appeared highly suspicious and inconsistent with legitimate brokerage practices, she said.

After independently searching on the internet, she found reports of similar investment frauds across India.

Despite the heavy investment, the organisers of the group still insisted her to deposit the money in guise of subscription to other IPOs, she said.

On January 5, she withdrew Rs 10 lakhs and the amount was deposited as six transactions in smaller amounts which enhanced her suspicion.

To avoid alerting the fraudsters and to prevent premature withdrawal of funds, she continued limited activity on the platform purely as a precautionary measure and to try withdrawing the amount, pending police intervention.

"The group of fraudsters with the help of several bank accounts and as per their well- orchestrated plan impersonated themselves as reputed company and cheated me to the tune of Rs 2.58 crore," she said in the complaint on which an FIR was registered on January 6.