Surgeon in Bandlaguda Jagir Loses Rs 2.3 Crore in Online Trading Scam

A 49-year-old surgeon residing in Bandlaguda Jagir lost Rs 2.30 crore after allegedly being deceived by cyber fraudsters operating a fake online trading platform, police said.

According to the police, the victim, who works at a private hospital, was targeted starting in July 2025. The fraud began when he was added to a WhatsApp group named “Grow Invest Tech Pvt Ltd.j9” by an individual identifying herself as Abhilasha Bisht.

The woman allegedly told the doctor that the WhatsApp group was designed to help members develop stock trading skills. She introduced another individual, identified as Lalit Keshre, describing him as a market analyst leading the initiative.

The organizers portrayed the group as a professional investment platform. They offered members access to investment opportunities in the Indian stock market through an institutional account, promising lucrative options including block trading, institutional investments, and initial public offering (IPO) allocations.

To participate in the scheme, the victim was asked to create a Qualified Institutional Buyer (QIB) account through a web-based trading platform. After being assisted with setting up the account, the surgeon was instructed to transfer money to multiple beneficiary bank accounts provided by the platform’s purported customer support personnel in order to engage in block trading.

Fraudsters maintained the deception within the WhatsApp group by having members regularly post screenshots showing substantial trading profits and successful cash withdrawals. These posts were designed to create confidence and induce victims to invest larger sums.

The surgeon told investigators that his web trading account reflected substantial profits, leading him to believe that his capital was generating strong financial returns. To establish further credibility, the operators initially allowed him to make a successful withdrawal of Rs 50,000.

However, when the surgeon subsequently attempted to withdraw larger amounts of money, his withdrawal requests were rejected, delayed, or blocked by the platform operators. He then realised that he had been defrauded of a total sum of Rs 2,30,98,146.

Following the discovery of the fraud, the victim approached the Cyberabad Cyber Crime police and submitted a formal complaint. Officers registered a case based on the complaint and launched an investigation into the matter.