A 79-year-old doctor from Powai was duped of nearly ₹25 lakh in a fraudulent share trading scheme. The Cyber Cell of the Western Region has arrested two accused, identified as Prashant Chaudhary and Richard Rao, in connection with the case. Both were found to be in touch with cyber fraudsters and had opened multiple bank accounts used for the fraudulent transactions.
According to police, the victim, a senior doctor residing in Hiranandani Gardens, Powai, also runs a private company as its director. On 17 July, he received a WhatsApp message carrying a stock investment advertisement along with a customer care number of a private firm. After being added to a group, he was regularly sent stock analyses and investment advice.
Soon after, the group administrator contacted him directly and persuaded him to invest in shares, promising high returns. An ID and password were created for him on a stock trading webpage. A woman from the group also kept convincing him to invest, assuring profitable returns.
Lured by these assurances, the doctor invested around ₹25 lakh in various shares during July. Initially, the account showed profits, which strengthened his trust. However, when he attempted to withdraw funds, the transactions repeatedly failed. Despite repeated queries to the group admin and the woman, no response was received. Instead, he was told that his “score” was low and that he needed to invest more money to withdraw his returns. When he refused, the fraudsters stopped responding altogether.
Realising he had been cheated, the doctor approached the Western Region Cyber Cell and lodged a complaint. Following verification, police registered a case under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the IT Act against unidentified cyber fraudsters.
During investigation, the trail of fraudulent transactions led police to Chaudhary and Rao, who were later arrested. Probe revealed that both had provided their bank accounts to known cyber fraudsters, in which money from this case and other similar scams had been deposited. They would then transfer the money to the fraudsters in return for a fixed commission.