Kerala Man Conned of Rs 7.55 Cr in Online Investment Scam

Thiruvananthapuram: A businessman from Cherthala in Kerala lost Rs 7.55 crores in two months by becoming prey to an online share trading investment scam.

The scammers lured the victim into investing money. He came in contact with the cheats online. The fraudsters introduced themselves as representatives of reputed financial firms Invesco Capital and Goldman Sachs and offered him a golden opportunity to invest in a supposedly lucrative share trading scheme, assuring him of substantial returns, reports The Hindu.

The businessman fell for the lucrative offers and started investing as instructed. After the initial investment, reportedly, the fraudsters sent the victim a fabricated statement showing that his internal equity account had accumulated a whopping Rs 39,72,85,929, which included the returns on his investments. The businessman was then persuaded to increase his investment to Rs 15 crores to further boost his returns.

But for some reason, the businessman decided not to invest the additional amount. As soon as the victim denied investing more, the tone of the fraudsters changed dramatically. They informed him that his internal equity account had been frozen. To unfreeze the account and withdraw his investments, the scam artists further demanded another Rs 2 crores from the victim and even threatened him with legal action if he failed to do so.

At last, the victim realized that he had been cheated and he approached the police. The case is under investigation.