Gandipet Chartered Accountant Duped of ₹2.4 Crore in Online Stock Trading Fraud

A 27-year-old chartered accountant residing in Gandipet has been duped of over ₹2.4 crore in an elaborate cyber fraud involving fake stock market investments. Following a formal complaint lodged by the victim, the Cyberabad cyber crime police registered a cheating case on Wednesday.

According to the police complaint, the victim was first contacted by unidentified cyber fraudsters through email and Telegram, where the suspects posed as seasoned stock trading experts. Luring him with promises of substantial profits, the fraudsters convinced the victim to begin investing through an application named Exness.

The victim stated that he initially deposited ₹2 lakh using the platform. Within a few days, his trading account balance on the app displayed profits of approximately ₹5 lakh. The fraudsters assured him that these returns were genuine, prompting him to invest another ₹5 lakh, for which he received nearly ₹9.5 lakh in returns shortly afterwards.

Having established trust through these early gains, the fraudsters persuaded the chartered accountant to pour significantly larger sums into the scheme. Encouraged by the apparent profits, the victim transferred over ₹2.4 crore across 52 separate transactions between November 20 and December 31 to multiple bank accounts provided through the application.

The fraud came to light when the victim attempted to withdraw his accumulated funds from the platform. Upon initiating the withdrawal, his trading account balance abruptly displayed a negative amount instead.

Shortly after the negative balance appeared, the fraudsters stopped replying to group chats on the application. The victim also discovered that his entire Telegram chat history with the accused had been wiped clean.

The Cyberabad cyber crime police are investigating the case to trace the bank accounts used in the transactions and identify the individuals behind the operation.