Cyber crooks dupe school teacher of Rs 71 lakh

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

A private teacher fell for a fake advertisement of a brokerage company on Google and ended up losing a whopping Rs 71 lakh. Besides, fraudsters staged a drama of lending Rs 34 lakh online and then threatened him for repayment, causing immense mental stress.

Amer Jamal Abdul Hamid (of N-12) is a teacher at a private school. On January 6, he saw an advertisement on Google about stock market investment under the name "111 Sharekhan Mandal." After joining the group, he started receiving messages claiming guidance and profits from investments. Jamal also joined their WhatsApp group.

On WhatsApp, he was shown the temptation of making money by earning a 10 per cent profit through the stock market. Following their advice, Jamal installed the app "Sharekhan: Stocks, IPO." This entire communication continued until January 20. On January 21, he was instructed to send Rs 15,000 to a bank account number. Since then, the app has shown that he has earned a 30 pc profit from purchasing IPOs.

The presentation was designed in such a way that it seemed genuine. Cybercriminals created a fake page and app under the name of the country's brokerage company, Sharekhan. However, its presentation was made to appear authentic. Jamal was later added to another WhatsApp group for a larger investment opportunity. He continued to transfer the amounts as instructed.

Money lost and the mental agony of online loans

Jamal sent Rs 71 lakh to the cyber criminals in 9 instalments. Despite this, the criminals continued to lure him with the temptation of purchasing a new IPO by offering an online loan. Jamal fell for this as well.

Through an online app, he took a loan of Rs 34 lakh. After that, when he tried to withdraw the invested amount, he was told that no profit would be given until the loan was repaid. It was then that he realised he had been completely deceived. The fraudsters caused immense mental stress to him to force him to repay the loan. Upon visiting the real Sharekhan office for inquiry, it was discovered that the advertisement on Google was indeed a scam. Police Inspector Sachin Kumbhar is investigating the case.