Faridabad man duped of ₹1.6 cr, 7 arrested

The Faridabad police have arrested seven cyber fraudsters who allegedly impersonated stock market experts and cheated a 70-year-old man of ₹1.6 crore over a period of a little over one month, officers aware of the matter said on Tuesday.

The officers said that the fraudsters have associates based in Dubai, to whom they would transfer the money they cheated, adding that they have only recovered ₹44,000 from the suspects. The suspects allegedly lured their victims to invest money through a trading app to get “high returns”, police said.

Deputy commissioner of police (cyber) Jasleen Kaur said the case came to light on June 5, when they received a complaint from a resident of Sector 21C. “The victim was a retired man who first received a call from these scamsters on March 15. They introduced themselves as experts and assured him a return of ₹14.50 crore. The victim then transferred his money between April 12 and May 22 into seven accounts,” she said.

The victim said he was added to a WhatsApp group where he received online tutorials on investing in stocks for high returns. He said he was given tips and was allegedly persuaded to invest in multiple companies, and ended up investing ₹1.60 crore.

Kaur said the victim realised that he had been duped when the suspects started pressurising him to invest more money. He then filed a complaint with the police, and a case of fraud was registered at the NIT cybercrime police station in Faridabad and the mobile numbers of the suspects were set on surveillance.

Police said their investigation revealed that the suspects would open temporary offices in a city to secure bank accounts there. Once the accounts were opened, they would abandon the office and move to another location to repeat the process.

DCP Kaur said they formed teams and identified callers in different areas of Delhi, and then arrested the suspects, identified as Sachiv Singh, Ashutosh Singh, Johar, Narendra Kumar, Vinod Kumar, Anil Kumar, and his wife (police did not reveal her name). All the suspects are residents of various areas in Delhi.

“On June 13, we arrested a woman and a man for their involvement in the case. During questioning, they revealed a lot of information that led to the arrest of the other five,” the DCP said.

Police said the arrested suspects have been presented in court and sent to jail. The investigation is ongoing, and further arrests are expected soon, they said.