Mumbai: Man loses Rs 51 lakh to stock market fraud

The complainant said he followed the steps in the Instagram ads and lost half a crore. Representation pic

A 35-year-old working professional has lost over Rs 51 lakh to a stock market fraud. The man, identified as Amit Amenable, has claimed that he was lured into stock trading from advertisements on Instagram reels. In May 2024, he saw an advertisement related to stock market investments and followed the steps in the advertisements. By the time he realised that he had become a victim of cyber fraud, he had lost Rs 51 lakh.

Amenable filed an FIR at the Central Cyber police station. According to the information given to police, the advertisement promoting stock market investments promised substantial returns. Intrigued, Amenable clicked on a ‘JOIN' button, which led him to a WhatsApp group named MSFL Stock Chart 33, managed by Juhi V Patel.

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Amenable told the police, "After clicking the link, I was added to a WhatsApp group with 140 other people. I messaged the group admin to show my interest and provided my personal details, including my PAN card number." After completing a form, Patel shared a link with him where his username, password, and PAN card details were used to create a virtual account on Marwadi Financial Services' platform. Amenable then began following trading updates shared in the group by Patel.

Initially, Amenable invested Rs 10,000 in the market and made a profit of Rs 22,000, which he was able to withdraw. This initial success built his trust in the group, and he soon followed Patel's instructions, eventually investing more than Rs 51 lakh over a period of four months. However, when he attempted to withdraw the amount, he realised it was a fraud. Amenable immediately approached the Central Cyber police and filed an FIR. An officer from the department said, "Cases of stock market fraud are skyrocketing. Despite our best efforts to create awareness, people are still being lured into these scams."

There has been a steep rise in the cyber frauds reported to the Mumbai police. From January to July this year, the quantum of the money lost by the victims of cyber fraud has been estimated at Rs 753 crore and merely Rs 100 crore has been recovered.