Stock trading scam: Police arrest two for duping Mumbai woman of Rs 28 lakh

Mumbai: The cyber police have arrested two people in an alleged stock trading scam where the victim was added to WhatsApp groups that were said to be representating a reputable investment firm. The victim was lured into investing in the stock market.She was induced to download a fake trading application, ‘SMCHNWPRO', and showed fabricated profits, prompting her to transfer Rs 28.07 lakh.The central cyber police arrested Rahul Kalmekh (36) from Kothrud in Pune and Saurabh Vishwas (26) from Raigad district after their role cropped up in the cyber fraud case.The case pertains to a complaint lodged by a Kurla resident who works as a manager in a private company. On Nov 24, while she was surfing on the internet she came across a message on WhatsApp. She was added to a group — 560Rhythm Exploration Camp — in which there were more than 100 members. One professor Subhash Agarwal was the admin and one Anya Mehra was giving tips on share trading. One day Anya called the victim and took her details and later she asked her to download SMCHNWPRO. The victim followed her instructions and initially invested Rs 5,000 online for registrations to join the group. "The investment doubled within a few days and when she withdrew it, it got transferred into her bank account, which won her trust, and soon on Anya's instructions she started investing and in a month's time, she transferred Rs 28.07 lakh in various instalments. Now when she said she wanted to withdraw her investment, Anya and the other accused asked her to pay 15% commission and it was here she raised suspicion and decided to confront them. When she confronted the suspects, they blocked her numbers and remained unavailable," said an official.The victim then approached the cyber police and registered an FIR. A case has been registered under sections of cheating, forgery, breach of trust and the Information Technology Act, 2000.During the course of investigations, police traced one of the beneficiaries as Saurabh Tours and Travels, which belongs to Saurabh Vishwas. Police said the same account has also been linked to 11 other cyber frauds registered in Maharashtra. His interrogation led police to arrest Rahul Kalmekh.Investigations revealed that the duo were part of a larger cyber fraud network involved in facilitating mule bank accounts and laundering proceeds of crime. Police seized mobile phones, a laptop, cheque books, ATM cards, and documents linked to ‘Saurabh Tours and Travels' during the probe. Authorities also found that certain bank accounts linked to the accused had been used in multiple cybercrime cases.
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