Cyberabad police nab two for Rs 57 lakhs stock market scam

Hyderabad: The Cyber Crime Police arrested two persons for engineering a trading scam and duping a person of Rs 57.37 lakhs in one of the cases that have come to light.

The arrested have been identified as Tamanam Surendra and D Naresh Babu who would collude with cyber fraudsters and cheat people in the guise of promising high returns on trading.

Case details

In February 2024, the Cyber Crime police received a complaint from a resident of Hyderabad stating that accused persons contacted him on WhatsApp and added him to a group called ‘Goldman (India) Sachs Securities Investment Management Ltd’

Then, the person was sent a link to download an app that was meant to facilitate investments in online trading. The victim believed it to be genuine and registered on their website.

Initially, he was asked to invest a small amount and would get profits in return. Once the belief was established, the person invested in larger amounts until the person stopped returning calls. In the end, the victim lost a total of Rs 57,37,536 to the scam.

Modus operandi

Surendra and Naresh Babu along with Delhi resident Raj Takur and Nellore residents Jagadesh and Bharath Dasineni – all absconding – would contact people on the Telegram app and supply bank accounts for a commission: 1.5 per cent per one lakh transaction.

In this way, the accused supplied eight bank accounts to the fraudsters and within three months managed to make transactions worth Rs 5 crores. As per NCRP data, 83 cases have been registered all over India against the accounts supplied by them. A case has been registered and further investigation is on.

Public advisory

The public is cautioned not to believe any unknown persons introduced over social media platforms like Telegram, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook offering tips/investments in the stock market for high returns and task-based investment offers.