Retired LIC Employee in Goregaon West Duped of ₹97.70 Lakh in Fake Stock Scam
A 61-year-old retired Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) employee residing in Goregaon West was allegedly cheated of ₹97.70 lakh by cyber fraudsters who lured him into a fraudulent stock trading scheme through social media.
The victim lodged a formal complaint at the Cyber Police Station in Mumbai's North Region, where an investigation has been launched to trace the culprits and the financial trail.
According to the police complaint, the complainant encountered an advertisement on Facebook on July 17 promising substantial returns on stock market investments. After clicking the advertisement link, he was added to a WhatsApp group titled "773 BNP Paribas Stock Research Group", which comprised approximately 195 members.
Within the group, two individuals identifying themselves as Rani Deshmukh and Sanjay Singh posed as stock market experts. They promised daily returns ranging between 5% and 20% on investments and claimed they could facilitate the allocation of Initial Public Offering (IPO) shares at prices lower than prevailing market rates.
Convinced by the promises, the victim followed instructions to open a demat account via a link provided by the accused. He was subsequently directed to transfer funds into multiple designated bank accounts. Between August 5 and August 27, the retired employee transferred a total of ₹97.70 lakh across several transactions.
The fraudulent trading platform displayed fictitious profits running into crores of rupees, leading the victim to believe that his capital was yielding significant gains. However, when he attempted to withdraw his funds, the operators demanded a 20% service fee and sought an additional payment of ₹39.36 lakh.
The demand raised suspicions, prompting the Goregaon West resident to verify the credentials of the entity. Upon discovering that the firm had no genuine physical office, he realised he had fallen victim to a scam and approached law enforcement authorities.
Cyber police officials are currently investigating the fake trading platform, examining the bank accounts used to receive the transferred funds, and tracing the individuals who operated the WhatsApp group.
