Gurugram: Fake stock trading call centre busted; 13 held
Darpan News Desk IANS, 01 Mar, 2023 12:27 PM
Gurugram, March 1 (IANS) The Cybercrime Branch of the Gurugram Police on Wednesday busted a fake stock trading call centre and arrested 13 people including two foreign nationals in this connection.
A police officer said that the fake call centre was involved in duping a man of Rs 1.6 crore by luring him to invest in the stock market, cryptocurrency, and international share market, the police said.
The complainant came in touch with the fraudsters through advertisements and pop-ups on Facebook that promised hefty returns by investing in the stock market, the police said.
The police have arrested 13 people including two from Uzbekistan and Latvia. The foreign nationals have been identified as Konstantins FIlipous -- a resident of Latvia,and Albert Saribekyan a.k.a. Peter -- a resident of Uzbekistan.
The arrested also include Gaurav Verma a.k.a. Prashant Goel, Melbin Mejan, Rakesh S. Nair a.k.a. Cameron Willson, Anvin Mathew a.k.a. Adam John, Rohinth Hari Charkravarthy a.k.a. Rajkumar, Deepanshu Verma a.k.a. Deepak Malhotra, among others.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Priyanshu Diwan said, the accused used to lure victims by putting advertisements/pop ups on Facebook, Instagram and social networking sites about getting huge returns by investing in the stock market.
These fraudsters then used to scam the victims by making them invest in fake trading websites -- Lexa Trade and Grow Line in the name of investing in the Stock Market, Crypto Currency and International Share Market by putting advertisements/ pop-ups on Facebook, Instagram and social networking sites, he said.
"These fraudsters used to make virtual accounts of victims on these websites and asked for an amount to invest. Once the victims invested some amount through them, they initially used to return some amount back as profit to gain the confidence of the victims. Later, the accused would ask them to invest bigger amounts for more profit which they never returned. Eventually, they would stop replying, and then blocked their numbers," the ACP said.
Police have taken some accused on remand to recover the amount of Rs 1.6 crore. Efforts are being made to identify other victims who have been defrauded by these scamsters, he added.
The Afghan nationals have been identified as Kabul resident Mustafa and Kandahar resident Rahimulla Rahim. Both the accused have refugee visas. The official said that they were caught on September 3 from Delhi's Kalindi Kunj area following a tip off that they were coming to Delhi by car. Following their interrogation the police conducted a raid at Noida and recovered more heroin and narcotics.
Judge B.K. Komala has given clear directions that accused seer should not be taken to anywhere during police custody, ruling out any possibility of shifting him to Bengaluru hospital. The police had sought 5 days' custody of the accused seer for investigation.
Last week, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, while extending a red carpet welcome to industrialists and entrepreneurs to invest in Punjab, said the state would emerge as industrial hub of the country.
The SAD chief told the media here that the party would stick to its core principles, including the need for a true federal structure, taking all sections of society and people from all religious faiths with it. He said SAD, the oldest regional party with a 102-year-old track record, would continue to rise to serve the regional aspirations of people of Punjab.
Police have also recovered a cache of 55 pistols of .32 bore and .30 bore from their possession. The accused were apprehended from Madhya Pradesh by the Counter Intelligence unit of Punjab Police with the help of its counterparts in Madhya Pradesh.
Lingayat seer Dr Murugha Shivamurthy Sharanaru, accused of raping minor girls, was finally taken into custody by the Karnataka Police on Thursday night - six days after the FIR against him was lodged. Police sources said the accused seer will be produced before a court on Friday.
