One more Cyber Crime and this time it is not straightforward, as the victim name Abhilash (name changed), got scammed by a so-called fake analyst who somehow accessed his trading account and blew off ₹7 lakh capital.
This case left us with so many doubts, as the scammer didn’t charge any fees or profit sharing. Instead they traded using Abhilash’s trading account in which they lost the entire capital.
So, how all this happened, here is the complete incident.
Abhilash: 15 days ago I received a call on WhatsApp, it was from the office of a Research Analyst.
ADB: Research Analyst, a SEBI registered analyst?
Abhilash: No sir, he said that he used to work with a broker firm to provide tips & advisory. I believed him. Later he connected me with his senior Chirag (name changed).
ADB: Do they provide you tips?
Abhilash: No sir, he just asked me to add ₹2 lakh capital and they traded using my account.
ADB: So you provided them account handling?
Abhilash: No, I raised the same concern as I didn’t share any details with them. When I asked them, they said that they are associated with my broker and had taken details from there.
I found it weird but since they provided me with a 50% profit on my capital I didn’t take the discussion further.
ADB: What happened next?
Abhilash: Then they asked me to increase the amount and asked me to deposit the amount in their bank account. I deposited ₹5 lakh which they used to trade themselves, but this time the trade went south. To avoid major risks, I tried withdrawing my amount, but failed.
ADB: That’s strange. You were trading broker’s apps. Right?
Abhilash: Yes sir, but when I tried to withdraw the amount they asked to wait till Monday as there are chances of huge momentum. But the failed transaction left me in doubt.
I tried but was not able to withdraw the amount and on Monday they used my entire capital to trade that dropped my fund balance to negative amount.
ADB: Didn’t you try to reach them?
Abhilash: I did, but they again asked me to add ₹1 lakh to recover losses.
ADB: Did you try to talk to your stock broker?
Abhilash: No sir.
Now the concern like these left us with many questions:
- Was Abhilash unknowingly using a clone trading app right from the beginning?
- Was the broker associated with the scam and helped scamster in meeting their objective?
Since the amount has been transferred to the scammer bank account hence Abhilash can file a Cyber Crime complaint.
For this, it is important to prepare a proper draft and submit relevant proofs. In case of unsatisfactory or delayed response, the concern can be raised to the Nodal Officer and SP of the State.
Also, cases like these must be reported on time as any delay makes it difficult to get 100% recovery of the lost amount.
