Youth persuaded to invest in stock market loses two crores, four arrested

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Four Malayalees have been arrested in a case of extorting two crore rupees from a native of Thiruvananthapuram by forcing them to invest in the stock market after they met and became friends through Instagram. Sadik (48) from Nallalam, Kozhikode, Shefiq (37) from Idukki Thodupuzha, Sadik (24) from Vadakara Iringal, Kozhikode and Nandu Krishna (21) from Pookode, Thrissur were arrested.

Thiruvananthapuram City Police Special Investigation Team nabbed the accused.After getting to know the complainant through Instagram, the fraud was perpetrated by soliciting trust by giving helpful advice to earn profits in the stock market. For this, applications that work with the help of artificial intelligence were installed on the phone. Following this, two crores of rupees were extorted from the complainant last month. After analyzing the WhatsApp chats between the complainant and the accused, it was found that the crime was planned and carried out outside India.On the basis of this, a special team under the supervision of Thiruvananthapuram City Police Deputy Commissioner Nidinraj and headed by Thiruvananthapuram City Cybercrime Police Assistant Commissioner CS Hari started investigation. SIs Shibu V, Sunilkumar N, Senior Civil Police Officers Benny B, Prashant PS, Civil Police Officers Vipin V, Rakesh R and Manikandan S were in the group.Investigation revealed that the money lost through online fraud from Kerala is being transferred through branches of various nationalized banks in the state. It has been found that some Malayalis rent out their own bank accounts by agreeing the commission amount with the fraudsters, withdrawing the money coming into the account and taking the commission amount and then transferring the rest of the money through the agent. Investigation revealed that some account holders were selling their own bank account information and SIM card linked to the account number by taking money.The arrested Sadiq is the main aide of Manu, a native of Malappuram Papannaur, who is planning and executing the crime through a call center in Cambodia. He is the one who rents bank accounts and extorts money from them by offering attractive commission. The money collected in this way is converted into digital currency and sent to Cambodia. Sadik and Nandukrishna were arrested for handing over their own bank accounts on commission to extort money. Investigation is on for more accused involved in the case.