There have been a number of online scams happening in the country, which include frauds via WhatsApp, KYC scams, India Post SMS scams, FedEx frauds, and whatnot. Now, a Mangaluru-based woman has reported that she lost more than Rs 74 lakh in an online stock market scam that began on Instagram. Here’s more about it.
Online stock market scam: here’s how a woman lost Rs 74.1 lakh
A report by TOI says that the woman found an ad related to share trading on March 15th, which claimed to offer high returns. Upon clicking the link, she was directed to the share trading information page, which had a contact number, where she left a message, and in return, she was contacted by an unknown person on WhatsApp.
The person sent her a link to join a WhatsApp group, which was named D101 Artemis Seminar Group. Following that, the woman started receiving regular information and updates about online trading.
Meanwhile, the woman received a link to begin a trading account with Artemis Profit Trading on April 25th, where the fraudster convinced her that she would get higher returns if she made bigger investments. The woman started with an initial investment of Rs 10,000. However, later, in expectation of high returns, she invested more money.
In total, the woman made many transactions between March 15th and July 4th, which resulted in transferring Rs 73.6 lakh to several accounts and Rs 50,000 separately to Artemis Profit Trading.
The woman soon realised that she was being scammed and tried to withdraw her money. However, even after several attempts she failed to withdraw the money she invited. Following this, when she reported the incident to the Cyber Crime and Economic Offences (CEN), and the case is currently under investigation.
How to avoid online scams
- One should always verify the authenticity of the sender by checking the phone numbers, email addresses, or other possible means.
- You should never respond to any suspicious links, messages, or calls.
- Also, do not forget to report them to cyber police (dial the toll-free number 1930 or visit cybercrime.gov.in).
