A Gujarat paediatrician reportedly lost a whopping Rs 50 lakh after falling prey to an investment fraud.
Identified as Dr Anil Khatri from the Shahibaug area of state capital Ahmedabad, the 58-yr-old has accused a man and a woman of defrauding him of Rs 50 lakh between May 31 and June 29 with the lure of higher returns on investing in the stock market.
Khatri filed a complaint with the cybercrime police. Dr Khatri, who runs a children’s hospital near the city police commissioner’s office, said that an unknown person added him to a WhatsApp group in May. The group admin, claiming to be member of a global firm, shared tips on stock market investment.
When the doctor inquired about investing, the admin provided him with a woman’s number and introduced her to him as his assistant. Unable to reach her through a regular call, Khatri communicated with her via WhatsApp chat.
In the FIR, Dr Khatri stated that the group admin and his assistant introduced themselves as the CEO and an employee of a US-based investment firm. In that WhatsApp group, several people posted messages about the returns they got with the help of tips from the firm. Convinced, Dr Khatri invested Rs 52 lakh between May 31 and June 29.
He was instructed to log on to a website and withdraw Rs 2 lakh from his profits, which he did. By June 29, his profit was displayed as Rs 1.64 crore on the website. However, when he attempted to withdraw his money, he was not allowed to do so. When he tried to contact the accused duo, they could not be reached.
The accused also stopped responding to his WhatsApp calls and messages.
Realising that he had been cheated, Khatri contacted the Cybercrime helpline. Cybercrime police registered a complaint of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, and cheating by impersonation under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with charges under the Information Technology Act.
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