Hyderabad: A 64-year-old retired banker from Secunderabad lost 1.25 crore to fraudsters who operated a bogus trading platform, “Capstone”, between December 29 and January 12, police said.
Following a complaint by the victim, the Hyderabad cyber crime police registered a case on January 14.The victim received a WhatsApp invitation to join a group titled ‘Team B Club Internship Group 39′, where members shared screenshots flaunting handsome gains from institutional IPO trades. After downloading the Capstone app through a link shared from a US phone number, the former banker made 15 transfers from his three personal accounts to 11 bank accounts, hoping to profit from premium share allotments.
The in-app dashboard showed his balance swelling to over 1.9 crore, but every attempt to withdraw funds was blocked. “I was asked to deposit another 58.58 lakh as clearing charges,” the victim alleged.Realising that he had been duped, the victim approached the police on January 14, and a case was registered. On January 15, both the Hyderabad and Cyberabad Cyber Crime Police received three similar complaints involving combined losses exceeding 1.2 crore.In the second case, a 68-year-old retired employee from Manikonda alleged that scammers posing as analysts of a stock brokerage firm duped him of over 50.8 lakh between March and May last year after luring him into WhatsApp investment groups. In the third, a 76-year-old retired employee from Secunderabad reported losing 46.25 lakh to fraudsters posing as stock market trading experts who advised him to invest in IPO trades between December 30 and January 5.
In the fourth case, a 45-year-old private-sector employee from Miyapur lost 32.1 lakh between December 26 and January 9 to fraudsters operating a fake app for investment in US stocks.In all four incidents, cases were registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology .
