Farmer from Mokila falls prey to online stock market scam, loses over Rs 1.9 crore

Hyderabad: Cyberabad police registered a cheating case after a 44-year-old farmer from Mokila lost Rs 1.9 crore to an online stock market investment scam that operated through a fake mobile application. The victim told police that in the last week of Sept, he was added to a ‘Reliance Wealth Pioneers' WhatsApp group by unknown persons. In the group, members promoted ‘block trades' and ‘upper circuit stocks'. A fraudster who identified himself as Ravi Mehra, claiming to be the group's analyst, asked the victim to download an Android application titled RCMPMA from a web link shared by him and guided him to open an account on the app. Believing assurances of high-tax-free returns and zero commission, the victim made multiple transfers from his HDFC and ICICI accounts to various bank accounts and UPI IDs. He was initially allowed to withdraw small sums and was later coaxed to transfer more funds towards an IPO allotment. When he tried to liquidate his holdings, the fraudsters demanded a 20% service fee and subsequently disabled the withdrawal option. "The activity on the app and the WhatsApp group also suddenly stopped," the victim said. Realising he had been duped, he approached the cybercrime police station of Cyberabad on Monday. A case was registered under Sections 318(4) (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 319(2) (cheating by personation), 336(3) (Forgery for purpose of cheating), 338 (Forgery of valuable security, will, etc) and 340(2) (Using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 66-D of the Information Technology Act. Police are analysing the bank transactions and the two phone numbers used by the suspects to identify and arrest them. End of Article