The police said the group had more than 90 members, many of whom regularly shared screenshots showing large profits from trades. The complainant told the police that the group’s administrators contacted him directly, claiming to represent a reputed investment research and brokerage firm. They allegedly asked him to download a phoney trading application, complete ‘KYC formalities’ and begin ‘investing’. They promised daily returns, higher profits through block trades, and exceptionally high gains from IPO subscriptions.

“To gain his confidence, the fraudsters first asked him to invest a small amount. The trading platform reflected a profit almost immediately, and he also received three withdrawals totalling Rs 11,000 in his bank account. Convinced that the platform was genuine, he continued investing,” an officer who is part of the probe said.

“Between June 24 and July 16, the doctor transferred money in multiple instalments to different bank accounts shown on the app. The payments, ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 55 lakh, totalled around Rs 95 lakh,” the officer added.

Money credited to suspected mule accounts

The app later displayed that his investment had grown to more than Rs 2.03 crore. However, when the doctor tried to withdraw the amount, the request was rejected. The administrators then allegedly claimed that additional funds were required because a larger IPO allocation had been made in his name. They demanded another Rs 1.59 crore before any withdrawal would be permitted. The complainant found the demand suspicious.

It was at this point, last week, that he received a phone call from a Delhi Cyber Crime Cell officer. According to the FIR, the caller informed him that the transactions he had made on July 4 and July 5 from his bank account had been credited to bank accounts against which fraud complaints had already been registered. The caller also told him that those beneficiary accounts were suspected mule accounts.

The warning alerted the doctor to the scam and stopped him from transferring the additional Rs 1.59 crore that the fraudsters had demanded to release his purported investment and profits. The next day, he reported the fraud through 1930, the National Cyber Crime Helpline, and the cybercrime portal before approaching Pune cyber police.

The police are now tracing the money trail through the beneficiary accounts used in the fraud. Investigators said the case follows a familiar pattern in online share trading scams, where victims are lured through social media advertisements and WhatsApp investment groups, shown fabricated profits on fake trading platforms, allowed to withdraw small amounts initially to build trust, and then persuaded to transfer increasingly larger sums before being denied access to their money.