21 hours Ago
Surat: A Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) official was cheated of Rs 90.40 lakhs in a cyber fraud . The victim was lured with promises of good returns by three different women on Facebook and WhatsApp.
He was promised good returns in share market investment and gold trading. After transferring Rs 95.59 lakhs to 16 different bank accounts provided by the fraudsters, the victim was allowed to withdraw only Rs 5.
19 lakhs. When he asked for the withdrawal, the cheaters kept giving various excuses and demanding more money. Cybercrime police have booked 19 unknown people for cheating under BNS and IT Act.
According to details, the complainant, a deputy town planner with SMC, received a friend request on Facebook from a woman named Lolly Cherry in Aug 2024. After accepting the request, Cherry identified herself as Nancy, working at a higher post in a Delhi IT company. After a few days, she told him that she was in Singapore for a company presentation at AAEX company to secure a contract.
After the presentation, she informed him that her company got the contract and she was supposed to work in Singapore on behalf of her company. As they chatted regularly, Cherry told him that she knew about an investor who would invest in AAEX at certain times and leave with a profit. She also shared documents showing her making a profit by investing in AAEX company in Singapore.
As he became interested in the offer, Cherry sent him a link to AAEX company to get him registered. On August 15, she told him that AAEX had a merger with the world's largest exchange company, VVEX, and also sent a link to that company for registration for investment. He registered on that link as well.
Meanwhile, he received another friend request on Facebook from a lady named Lara Sharma. After accepting the request, he was lured with gold trading investment profit by Sharma. He registered on the m.
gewegold.com link suggested by Sharma for gold trading investment. On Aug 17, he was added to a WhatsApp group named VIP33 Strategy Centre with Emilly Smith as its admin.
Smith advised him to register on m.sqrpoint-trade.com for getting profit through investments and IPOs.
He registered on this link as well. All three women continued guiding him for investment and asked for money to be transferred to different bank accounts. He transferred Rs 95.
59 lakhs from August to Oct 2024 to 16 different bank accounts provided by these three women. However, he was allowed to withdraw only Rs 5.19 lakhs.
The accounts that he registered on different links suggested by the three women showed many times profit against his investment. However, when he asked for withdrawal, the women kept giving different excuses or demanding more money. As he realised that he was cheated, he called the cyber helpline to register his complaint.
Based on his complaint, a formal FIR was filed by Surat cybercrime police station on Dec 19. Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India . Don't miss daily games like Crossword , Sudoku , and Mini Crossword .
.
