A woman from Greater Noida was reportedly defrauded of over Rs 51 lakh in a stock trading scam that promised high returns. According to a report by news agency PTI, the victim, Meenu Rani, filed a complaint last week with the Cyber Crime police station. In her complaint, she alleged that she was deceived by a man called Hari Singh, who claimed to have 15 years of experience in stock market investments. Over time, she invested a total of Rs 51.50 lakh. Rani stated that after being drawn into the scheme, she was added to a WhatsApp group and even borrowed money from her husband, mother-in-law, and other relatives to invest further.
How the woman was duped
Preeti Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime), said that Aarti Singh, a member of the WhatsApp group, reached out to Rani and claimed that Hari Singh had purchased several Amazon gift vouchers worth Rs 1,000 each to help a woman. These vouchers were being distributed among the women in the group. When Rani used one of these vouchers to log into her Amazon account, Rs 1,000 was credited to her account.
This apparent gain increased Rani’s trust in Hari Singh. He then convinced her that by investing in the stock market, she could earn three to five times her investment within a month. The fraudsters initially asked Rani to invest Rs 50,000. After she transferred the money to the account they provided, a profit amount began appearing alongside her principal investment on an app they instructed her to download.
Motivated by the seeming profits, Rani went on to transfer additional funds, including money borrowed from her husband, mother-in-law, and other relatives. However, when she later approached an acquaintance for a loan, she was warned that she might have been scammed. Realizing the situation, Rani demanded her money back from the group, but the fraudsters broke off all contact.
According to Yadav, Rs 4,80,000 of the total amount invested has been frozen, and efforts are underway to recover the remaining funds.
