Pan-India cyber investment scam busted, 12 held from 6 states: UP police

A pan-India cyber investment fraud allegedly involving overseas links was unearthed with the arrest of 12 people from six states, police said.

The accused were arrested from Odisha, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh for allegedly running a nationwide cyber investment racket through WhatsApp groups, SP (Rural) Amrit Jain said on Saturday.

Working in coordination with the Ministry of Telecommunications, the Aligarh cyber crime cell identified around 600 WhatsApp groups that were allegedly being used to lure and cheat investors across the country, Jain said.

Police claimed that timely action helped prevent an estimated fraud of about ₹500 crore that could have affected more than 1.5 lakh people nationwide.

The case came to light after Dinesh Sharma, a retired deputy general manager of Punjab National Bank, approached the cyber crime cell on January 31 and reported that he had been cheated of over ₹11 lakh through a WhatsApp-based investment scheme, the SP said.

According to police, Sharma was allegedly lured with promises of returns of up to 40 per cent per week. Though initially reluctant, he invested ₹5,000 as a trial amount on December 16 last year and received returns, which increased his confidence, officials said.

Subsequently, he was allegedly persuaded to make a larger investment and was even offered an opportunity to invest ₹1 crore. When he declined, citing lack of funds, the fraudsters allegedly siphoned off ₹11 lakh from him, police said.

Acting on the complaint, the cyber crime cell managed to recover ₹5.64 lakh for Sharma and, in the process, uncovered the larger racket, Jain said.

Police said they contacted more than 500 members across the country who were part of the WhatsApp groups and warned them about the suspected fraud, averting large-scale losses.

The cyber crime cell is now seeking assistance from the CBI and Interpol to trace the alleged masterminds operating from several foreign countries, officials said.

The accused have been booked under relevant sections of the BNS and IT act.