Man arrested for defrauding Rs 29 lakh through fake share trading scheme – ThePrint

Alappuzha (Kerala), Nov 9 (PTI) A Hyderabad man has been arrested for allegedly duping a resident of Alappuzha in Kerala of Rs 29 lakh by luring him into a fraudulent online stock trading scheme, police said.

Muhammad Adnan was detained in a joint operation carried out by Telangana Cyber Crime Police and Alappuzha Cyber Crime Police.

The accused contacted the victim, a resident of Kalapura in Kerala’s Alappuzha district, through Facebook and convinced him of an online stock trading scheme by making false promises that he could make significant profits.

Police said the defendant sent the victim a link to a fake stock trading website that showed the victim’s profits increasing as he invested.

The scam was promoted under the guise of celebrating the stock trading platform’s 40th anniversary, with the promise that investing $10,000 would yield a profit of $1,388.

As the victim continued to deposit more money, the fake trading site continued to show artificially inflated profits. However, police added that when the victim attempted to withdraw his profits and capital, he was asked to pay ’30 percent income tax’, as the defendant calls it, before he could access his funds.

It was at this point that the victim realized that it was a scam and reported the incident to the Alappuzha Cyber Crime Police and registered an FIR through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.

An investigation was launched which led to the freezing of more than Rs 6 lakh of money duped from the Alappuzha native and deposited into different bank accounts by the fraudsters.

Further investigation revealed that the fraudsters transferred the duped money to multiple bank accounts in various states, including Delhi, Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana. With the help of Telangana Cyber Crime Coordination Center and Rajakonda Cyber Crime Police Station, police traced the accused to LB Nagar in Hyderabad.

Mohammed Adnan was arrested on charges of online fraud and money laundering. He was produced before the LB Nagar Additional Metropolitan Magistrate Court and subsequently sent to Alappuzha Police for transit remand on Friday. The accused is also linked to two other fraud cases in Telangana, where he allegedly cheated a doctor in Hayat Nagar of a significant amount.

Police officers said the investigation was ongoing, focusing on IP addresses and bank accounts in other states, including Bihar, Jharkhand, Delhi and Assam, to identify others involved in the scam.

The accused was sent to the courthouse and sent to Alappuzha District Jail. PTI ARM ADB ARM 10/4/2024 SA

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