The season of the digital scams doesn’t seem to end, more so with the digital age of apps and social media, ruling everyone’s mind. Outright foolish as it may sound, people remain gullible to well established systems of fraud, in the digital world. Today only we have a news of a elderly couple committing suicide from Beedi village in Belgavi district in Karnataka after losing Rs 50 lakhs to cyber frauds, who placed them under digital arrest by threatening them over the phone from Delhi. Any amount of government campaign and blaring news about this crime over and over again has not made any dent.
It is not only true with the digital arrest but the whole genre of cyber crimes which uses duping the gullible as the main mode of operation. When the booty is so huge and the victims can be trapped so easily, it can be termed as the golden goose for the cyber criminals and so it is. Investment scams remain a roaring business, even when the modus operandi becomes public knowledge, and when you start feeling that it would be the end of this genre of fraud, another major case happens, or a serial offender of the investment scams is caught. A news item of the day says it all. “Man held in Hyderabad for committing 43 cases related to investment fraud.”
The cases are from all across the country and 6 cases are from Telangana. Busting a huge racket, the Hyderabad cyber crime police arrested a person from Gurugram in Haryana for his alleged involvement in investment and trading frauds. The case by which this mastermind was caught has the same by now infamous storyline. A storyline which every new victim gets sold to, but what can just not be digested by any rational thinking person. It all starts with the bountiful returns promised and shown to be delivered in the initial days, warding off any foul smell. To triple his profits a 49 year old civil engineer joins a group at the instance of a WhatsApp message promising him online stock investment ideas.
The profits would triple in a short time was the bait laid. The Alptrade platform allowed the ‘investor’ to withdraw on small investments initially to build up the confidence. Investments as told were being made in bulk stocks and in IPOs, which was projected to deliver 20 times. More investments were made, and returns could also be seen on the fake app. When he decided to withdraw, he was told that his money is still in the IPOs. He then told he wanted his profits, he was asked to double his investment amount of Rs. 15 lakhs. It is then he smelt the fraud. They blocked his numbers and did not give access to chat, he called but no one responded. In all he lost the invested amount of Rs. 20.01 lakhs to the fraudsters because of greed. Mostly, this would also not be an eyeopener.
IF PEOPLE ARE HELL BENT TO GET FINANCIALLY FOOLED, THERE WOULD ALWAYS BE TAKERS.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.