HYDERABAD: A successful stock market investment could double your money in no time, goes the fake claim. This lure makes the WhatsApp and Telegram-based "advisers" extremely attractive to a lot of aspiring stock market investors.
Most of the time, these investment advice companies are scandals and commoners lose money quickly in these quick-money schemes.
To one such too-good-to-be-true investment scheme, a 31-year-old private employee from Hyderabad lost `12.6 lakh to a fraudulent stock investment scheme. The scammers initially offered the victim a one-month free trial and gained his trust with stock recommendations that seemed successful. They lured the victim with free trial and anniversary offers.
According to the police, during the trial, the scammers' stock tips appeared to perform well, gaining the victim's trust. After the trial ended, the victim was invited to subscribe to a paid service for Rs 10,000, which he paid after background checks, which showed the scammers as a SEBI-registered entity.
Shortly after, the fraudsters promised a gift of Rs 2,000 as part of their anniversary celebration. They urged the victim to invest Rs 2 lakh with the promise of doubling the money. The victim was convinced about the returns during the free trial and he transferred the amount. He was not aware that he was being shown the fake numbers.
The scam grew as the fraudsters introduced a fake Initial Public Offer (IPO) allocation feature. The victim transferred additional funds to the scamsters to apply for IPOs. Over time, the victim sent Rs 12.6 lakh to the scammers. When he attempted to withdraw his money, scammers demanded a 20 per cent tax payment, which raised suspicions.
Upon further investigation, the victim realised he had been scammed and filed a complaint with the Hyderabad cybercrime wing.
