In another case of online scam, a senior citizen from Bengaluru lost Rs 6.41 crore after becoming a victim of online investment fraud. The victim connected with the fraudsters through WhatsApp and fell into their trap in the hope of learning stock market investing and strategies through online training sessions.

According to a report in Bengaluru Mirror, the victim’s ordeal reportedly began on July 19 when an unknown person first contacted him on WhatsApp. The user introduced herself as Mira Patel and claimed to be a key member of an investment group on the platform. He connected the victim with other operators of the group, identified as Hardik Shah and Ashish Goyal, who introduced themselves as representatives of “International Equity Fund” – which they claimed was a Delaware-based investment fund. The consultant is a company which is registered as a foreigner in India. Portfolio Investor.

After introducing themselves, the scammers offered to organize training sessions for the victim, and promised extraordinary returns on investment – ​​reportedly up to 700 percent.

Believing it was a legitimate group and hoping to learn more about the stock market and investing, the victim fell for their tricks. After victims agreed to participate in the group, the scammers conducted extensive and seemingly professional online training sessions over a period of 15 days. During these sessions, the victim, along with other members of the group, were added to a WhatsApp group where the fraudsters, disguised as investment experts, shared stock market strategies. He reportedly provided them guidance on stock recommendations, IPO allocation and block trading. The victim found these sessions to be legitimate and became further ensnared in the scam.

During the session, the fraudsters pressured the victim to initially invest large sums of money for preferential stock allotment and IPO subscription. Later, to “unlock” the promised profits, they demanded additional “security deposits”, claiming that these payments were necessary for high-frequency trading profits. Convinced by the sessions and expecting to get some huge returns, the victim started transferring money. However, the fraud did not stop there.

Since their initial investment did not yield any significant returns, the victim’s desperation to get their money back increased. To cover his losses, he borrowed heavily from family and friends and secured a loan of Rs 3.2 crore, which also included Rs 70 lakh as part of the scammers’ increasing demands. However, when the victim attempted to withdraw his investments despite having deposited a total of Rs 6.41 crore, his account on the IEF platform was suddenly locked without any explanation. His repeated attempts to contact Meira Patel and her associates remained futile, as they became evasive and eventually disappeared.

The report said that during the police investigation, officials revealed that the scammers in this particular case operated using multiple phone numbers, bank accounts and a fabricated online portal that displayed fake transactions to simulate profits. Was. To establish credibility, the scammers also provided fake documents, such as a purported SEBI registration certificate and an office address in Mumbai, both of which are now under investigation and suspected to be fake.