A retired government employee from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh fell victim to an online fraud, losing Rs 82 lakh in a scam that promised an astronomical 1200 per cent annual return.
The victim, lured by the prospect of high returns, transferred his life’s savings across multiple transactions before realising the fraud.
According to the complaint filed at the Mandi cyber police station, the fraudsters had convinced the officer to invest through a fake stock trading app after joining a WhatsApp group via a link shared on Facebook.
The group, consisting of around 150 members, presented lucrative investment opportunities in stocks and IPOs, ultimately persuading the victim to make eight transactions amounting to Rs 82 lakh across bank accounts in UCO Bank, Bandhan Bank, ICICI and HDFC.
Had the promised returns been genuine, the officer’s investment would have grown to Rs 10.66 crore in just a year, Rs 30,446 crore in five years and an unimaginable Rs 1.13 quintillion in 10 years. However, upon suspecting fraud and demanding his money back, the scammers failed to provide satisfactory responses, prompting him to report the incident to the police.
Prompt action by the police saved Rs 16 lakh from being lost by freezing accounts in various banks. The authorities have urged people to stay vigilant against such online frauds and avoid clicking on suspicious links or responding to unknown calls promising high returns.
