Man loses Rs 2.35 cr in trading scam

An invitation to join a high-profit “stock market” trading group on Facebook ended with a Delhi resident losing nearly Rs 2.35 crore.

The Delhi Police on Sunday claimed to have arrested two key facilitators, who allegedly supplied mule accounts to interstate fraud syndicates running the elaborate Forex and stock market investment scam.

The complainant reported that he was duped by fraudsters posing as expert traders offering lucrative returns on Forex investments. According to the police, the victim was added to an online group showing fabricated profits.

Once the victim invested substantial amount, he was denied withdrawals through excuses and even threated.

A case was registered in this regard. During investigation, the police found that a sum of Rs 20 lakh was routed through a current account in the name of M/s Chand Electronic, which emerged as a key conduit. Further investigation exposed at least 10 first-layer mule accounts that were used to siphon and scatter the proceeds.

The accused, Sajjad Ahmad (35) and Uttam Mandal (40), played a central role in this network.

Police officials said they were “professional account providers.” They provided accounts, along with cheque books, ATM cards, SIM cards and login credentials, to cyber handlers operating pan-India who then operated them remotely to receive and transfer funds.

Police officials said efforts were on to identify handlers and trace money trail to recover the remaining funds.