The Ernakulam Rural police arrested a Karnataka native on September 29 (Sunday) in connection with the alleged defrauding of ₹11.50 lakh from a Kizhakkambalam native after promising him huge profits through online trading.

Prakash Eerappa, 49, of Gulbarga was arrested by the Thadiyittaparambu police. He allegedly claimed to be the chief of a private company’s share marketing division and gained the victim’s trust by communicating through social media and WhatsApp calls. Prakash and his gang reportedly blocked his number when the victim demanded the return of the invested amount and profits.

A probe revealed that the fraudsters had ‘purchased’ bank accounts of others and conducted transactions worth lakhs, while the money illegally obtained was converted into Bitcoin. The police gathered information on the fraud by staying undercover in Karnataka which revealed that many had been cheated by the gang.

The police exhorted people to report online frauds as swiftly as possible in the helpline number 1930, to enable freezing of the accounts and to recover the lost amount.

Cop suspended

A Sub-Inspector of Kothamangalam Police Station, Hari Prasad, was suspended on Sunday by the Ernakulam Range DIG on the charge of making a social media post that was reportedly defamatory to CPI(M) activist Puthukudi Pushpan, who died on Saturday after being bedridden for 30 years following the Koothuparamba police firing incident that took place three decades ago.

In addition, a departmental enquiry has been ordered against him, for alleged violation of discipline.

The Assam Police on Wednesday unearthed a massive financial scam of Rs 22,000 crore involving brokers who made fraudulent online stock market investments by claiming to double people’s money, sources said.

The police have arrested two men, Vishal Phukan, a 22-year-old online trader from Dibrugarh and Swapnil Das from Guwahati, in the case. However, several more arrests are expected in the scam that allegedly spanned the state.

Police said Phukan, who lured people using his opulent lifestyle, promised his investors a 30% return on their investments in 60 days. He had set up four fake companies, invested in the Assamese film industry and acquired several properties.

The police conducted a raid at his house residence in Dibrugarh and seized documents linked to the mutli-crore scam. Police are now looking for Assamese choreographer Sumi Borah, who is also reportedly connected to Phukan’s network.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma urged people to avoid fraudulent online stock market investments, saying that claims of doubling money with minimal effort are usually fraudulent.

“I want to tell the people that there is no such system of investing money in the stock market through these online trading firms. Fraudsters are misleading the people. I urge the people to stay away from fraudsters. Police have now registered cases against the illegal brokers. We will try to bust the entire racket in the state,” he said, adding that the police have launched a crackdown on illegal online trading in the state.

The chief minister’s statement comes after reports claimed that several online trading firms were doing business in the state without following SEBI or RBI guidelines.
 

Thane:

A 48-year-old man from Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra allegedly lost Rs 1.36 crore to cyber fraudsters who lured him to invest in share trading, police said on Sunday.

Based on a complaint, a case under section 420 (cheating) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act has been registered at the cyber police station against two persons and an organisation named Angel One, an official said.

A probe has been initiated, but no arrests have been made so far, senior inspector Gajanan Kadam said.

According to the police, the fraud occurred between January 20 and March 13.

The accused contacted the complainant, a resident of Jui Nagar, on WhatsApp and provided him with information on share trading and assured him of substantial returns on his investment, he said.

The complainant was asked to transfer Rs 1.36 crore into different bank accounts for investing in the stock market, the official said.

However, when the complainant did not receive any money from the accused, he realised that he had been cheated and approached the police, he said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)