Hyderabad: In separate incidents, cyber fraudsters posing as stock trading advisors duped two city residents of 3.2 crore.In the first incident, a 65-year-old retired employee from Anand Nagar in New Malakpet, said that on July 23, she was randomly added to a WhatsApp group named ‘BOBCAPS Group-17′. “The fraudsters made the victims believe the group was being operated by representatives of BoB Capital Markets Ltd,” said a cybercrime official.A woman who introduced herself as Ankita Ghosh convinced the victim to make progressively larger transfers to bank accounts in the names of various private firms. Between July 24 and Sept 8, she transferred over 1.99 crore through 23 transactions. The victim said that when the dashboard on a BOBCAPS webpage showed ‘profits’ of 7.18 crore, she attempted to withdraw the amount.“Despite paying commission and later ‘additional taxes’, they never allowed me to withdraw. I realised it was fraud when the weblink became inaccessible on Sept 10,” she said. Based on her complaint, Hyderabad cybercrime police booked a case under Sections 66C & 66D of the IT Act and relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).In another incident, Cyberabad police registered a case of stock market investment fraud based on the complaint of a 52-year-old software engineer from Gachibowli. After joining the AEGIS-CAP WhatsApp group through a link shared on the social media platform, the victim was guided by fraudsters posing as Tarak Sharma and Patric Martin. On their instructions, he opened an account on a fake website and, between Aug 13 and Sept 11, the victim transferred 1.21 crore as ‘investment’ in stocks.The portal reflected a ‘profit’ of 32 crore, but his withdrawal requests were blocked until he deposited an additional 3.2 crore as ‘tax’. Suspecting fraud, he approached Cyberabad police, and a case was registered under relevant sections of the BNS and IT Act. “Salaried employees and pensioners are the primary targets of stock market investment frauds. We urge people to avoid investment advice received over online chats,” said a senior cybercrime investigator.
