Mumbai Police make one more arrest in Forex fraud case

Representation Pic

The western regional cyber police have arrested one more suspect on the allegations of defrauding a former shipping captain of Rs 37 lakh through a fake Forex trading app. The police have managed to trace Rs 27 lakh of the money lost by the victim to the account of the accused identified as Satish Gupta, 26. The police had earlier arrested two others, who similar to Gupta had played their bit to facilitate the fraud.

The victim, a 67-year-old former captain, received a call in September from a person who identified himself as Rahul Sharma. The caller offered lucrative returns by investing in forex through their company. The caller had claimed that the former captain would receive a $300 bonus and potential profits ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh.

Lured by the promise of daily profits of three to eight percent on the investment, the captain agreed to invest, said an officer involved in the case. The accused instructed the captain to download a forex trading app, following which he deposited R27.71 lakh from his own bank account and Rs 9 lakh from his wife's account into the app. The app quickly showed a purported profit of Rs 70 lakh within a couple of days. When the captain attempted to withdraw the amount, he encountered difficulties. Subsequently, attempts to contact Rahul were unsuccessful, prompting the captain to inquire about the company's address in Uttar Pradesh.

Upon discovering that there was no office of the company at the provided address, the captain realised that he had become a victim of fraud and promptly reported the incident to the western regional cyber police. A case was registered and the police recently arrested two persons who facilitated the transfer of money at the behest of the mastermind of this scam. During investigation, Satish Gupta's name had emerged and he was arrested a couple of days ago from Navi Mumbai.

Of the total Rs 37 lakh lost by the victim, the police found that Rs 27 lakh had been transferred to Gupta's bank accounts. It was revealed that Gupta had established the company using fake documents and a bank account was opened in the company's name to facilitate the scam. With Gupta's arrest, the police hope to nab the mastermind of the fraud.

Rs 37L
Amount lost by victim

3
No of suspects arrested so far