Shimla: Cyber criminals have duped people of the state of more than Rs 4 crore in the last one month in the name of online trading and investing money in IPOs and blockchain, police said. According to the police, the fraudsters first obtain the contact numbers of the victims from social media and promise them high returns on their investment. As a next step, the fraudsters add the victims to Telegram and WhatsApp groups and ask them to create a trading account/wallet. Next, the victims are asked to invest an initial amount of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000. At first, the victims are promised good returns to build trust and are encouraged to increase their investment. Later when the victims try to withdraw their money, they are unable to do so and realise that they have been duped. DIG (cyber crime) Mohit Chawla said in a statement that there has been a rise in cyber crime cases related to online trading across the country. He said, “Innocent people are falling prey to fraudulent schemes and losing a lot of money at the hands of cyber criminals, who are constantly evolving their strategies to dupe people.” The DIG said cyber crime cases registered in Himachal Pradesh in the last few months mainly involve online trading scams.
He said the victims are lured into fraudulent schemes by promising high returns but they end up financially devastated. To prevent cyber frauds, the police have asked people to avoid sharing personal information or downloading unknown and suspicious apps and accessing such websites. People have been advised to be cautious while using online trading apps and do thorough verification with recognized authorities like BSE, NSE and SEBI to ensure the authenticity and reliability of the trading apps. People have also been advised to report cyber crime incidents to the police. Shimla: Police said cyber criminals have duped people of the state of more than Rs 4 crore in the last one month in the name of online trading and investing money in IPOs and blockchain. According to the police, the fraudsters first obtain the contact numbers of the victims from social media and promise them high returns on their investments. As a next step, the fraudsters add the victims to Telegram and WhatsApp groups and ask them to create a trading account/wallet. Next, the victims are asked to invest an initial amount of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000. At first, the victims are promised good returns to build trust and are encouraged to increase their investments. Later when the victims try to withdraw their money, they are unable to do so and realise that they have been duped. DIG (cyber crime) Mohit Chawla said in a statement that there has been a rise in cybercrime cases related to online trading across the country. He said, “Innocent people are falling prey to fraudulent schemes and losing a lot of money at the hands of cyber criminals, who are constantly evolving their strategies to dupe people.” The DIG said cyber crime cases registered in Himachal Pradesh in the last few months mainly involve online trading scams. He said victims are lured into fraudulent schemes by promising high returns but they end up financially devastated. To prevent cyber frauds, police have asked people to avoid sharing personal information or downloading unknown and suspicious apps and accessing such websites. People have been advised to be cautious while using online trading apps and do thorough verification with recognized authorities like BSE, NSE and SEBI to ensure authenticity and reliability of trading apps. People have also been advised to report cyber crime incidents to police.
