Online Trading Scam via WhatsApp Groups and Fake Website: ₹1.1 Crore Lost by Retired Telecom Professional

A 59-year-old retired telecom professional from Kharghar lost over ₹1.1 crore to an online trading scam operated via WhatsApp groups and a fraudulent investment website. The scam, which took place from April 9 to May 14, was uncovered when the victim tried to withdraw his "profits" from the fake website, only to realize he was scammed.

Key Takeaways:

The victim was added to a WhatsApp group unsolicited on April 6, which was presented as a platform for stock market trading and IPO investments.
The group had multiple admins and participants posing as investment advisors, assistants, and a CEO of a trading company.
The scammer convinced the victim to invest large sums of money based on claims of high returns and fabricated trading dashboards displaying massive profits.
The victim was told to pay the difference in order to access his "profits" from an IPO allotment worth ₹6.48 crore, which made him realize he was scammed.
The victim filed an online complaint on May 17 through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, and only got back the initial ₹8,000 out of the total ₹1.10 crore invested.
A case was filed under sections 66 D (cheating by using a computer) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and 3(5) (criminal liability), 318 (4) (cheating), 319 (2) (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

Statistics:

The scam took place from April 9 to May 14, a total of 35 days.
The victim lost ₹1.10 crore to the scam.
The scammer convinced the victim to invest a total of ₹1.68 crore (including the ₹1 lakh initial investment) over the course of the scam.
The victim was told to pay ₹1.40 crore to access his "profits" from the IPO allotment.
Only ₹8,000 was returned to the victim after the scam was uncovered.

Sources:

National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal
Hindustan Times (May 21)
Information Technology Act, 2000
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023