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.
On receiving information about the incident, SP City Dinesh Kumar Singh, along with police force, reached the spot. The injured youths were sent to the hospital for treatment and the matter is being investigated.
The Chief Minister said the government is fully sensitive towards checking cross-border infiltration in Punjab. He said Punjab Police is constantly in touch with the Border Security Force (BSF) and other agencies for this purpose.
While briefing the officers, the DGP said the topmost priority of the government, as directed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, is to further strengthen the fight against drugs to make Punjab a drug-free state, besides eliminating the gangster culture, maintaining law and order, and detection of crime.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur announced Rs 5 lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased, whereas Rs 15,000 as immediate relief for the injured. He said free treatment would be provided to the injured.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday carried out his first Cabinet expansion by inducting five legislators, including second-time MLA Aman Arora, into his council of ministers. The expansion came in less than four months of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sweeping to victory in the Assembly elections by winning 92 seats of the 117 seats.
The police have so far managed to nab four of the accused, including one woman, who have been identified as Gurjant Singh (31), Navjot Singh (30), Satpal Singh (28) and Gurpreet Kaur (30).
