Sebi busts phony investment syndicate; fears large-scale fraud

Market regulator Sebi today unearthed a phony investment syndicate in the national capital, wherein a large number of people could have been defrauded in the name of investments made by their deceased family members.
Acting on an individual complaint, Sebi probed a case of an investor getting phone calls for impressive returns on the mutual fund products purchased by his deceased son, provided some further investments were made by the person.
The preliminary investigation by Sebi, with the assistance of the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police, however showed that there was an organised attempt by several people to defraud the gullible investors.

"It is suspected that the number of victims of such fraudulent attempts could be much higher, which would be revealed in due course after further investigations by Delhi Police and Sebi," the regulator said in a late night statement.