A 53-year-old professional from Pune has been defrauded of a staggering Rs 61 lakh in a sophisticated cybercrime operation where scammers posing as financial advisors promised high returns on share market investments. The incident, reported to the Sant Tukaramnagar police, unfolded over several months between June and November 2025.
The Modus Operandi: A Web of Deception
The victim, an employee at an engineering firm in Chakan MIDC, was first contacted by fraudsters through a mobile messenger application. They convinced him to invest in the stock market through their purported firm, assuring him of substantial profits. Initially trusting the process, the man began with smaller transfers.
"Initially, the man transferred small amounts. Later, crooks told him to invest more for better returns and the victim transferred Rs 2 lakh," stated Senior Police Inspector Gorakh Kumbhar of Sant Tukaramnagar police. The scammers then sent him a link to download a dedicated application, which displayed a rapidly growing, but entirely fictitious, portfolio.
The Illusion of Massive Profits
The app showed the victim's supposed profit ballooning to Rs 15 lakh, and within days in August 2025, it skyrocketed to an eye-watering Rs 55 lakh. However, when he attempted to withdraw his 'earnings', the trap snapped shut. The fraudsters demanded a fee of 30% of the profit amount before any withdrawal could be processed.
Claiming the victim lacked the funds for this fee, the crooks pretended to issue him a credit note. Subsequently, they sent an email accusing him of duping their company and imposed a fine, instructing him to pay to continue trading. Between August and November 2025, the victim transferred a total of Rs 34.9 lakh to various bank accounts provided by the scammers, all while his app dashboard displayed an illusory profit of Rs 1.44 crore.
A Second Layer of Fraud
While entangled with the first group, the victim was lured into a second fraudulent investment circle on another mobile messaging app in November 2025. He downloaded another application and invested a further Rs 26.2 lakh into bank accounts provided by this new set of criminals.
This group claimed the value of IPOs allotted to him had reached Rs 32 lakh. The pattern repeated itself—when he tried to access his money, the fraudsters demanded more payments.
Police Investigation Underway
Senior Inspector Kumbhar confirmed the collective loss amounted to Rs 61 lakh. "When he realized he was being duped, he approached the police. We have sought the details of these transactions from the victim's bank. Our investigations are on," Kumbhar told TOI. The police are now meticulously following the digital trail of the transactions to identify the perpetrators behind this elaborate scam.
This case serves as a stark warning against unsolicited investment offers on messaging platforms and fake trading apps that manipulate users with false profit displays to extract ever-larger sums of money.
