Youth duped of Rs7L on pretext of share trading, investment

Lucknow: Cyber fraudsters cheated a city youth of several lakh rupees by luring him with promises of hefty profits through share trading and IPO investments. Acting on the victim's complaint, Gudamba police registered an FIR. The complainant, Mayank Srivastava, a resident of Shyam Enclave in Jankipuram, stated that he received a call on Dec 8–9, during which the caller persuaded him to join a WhatsApp group related to trading. After being added to the group, the fraudsters helped him open a trading account and initially asked him to deposit Rs 5,000. The next day, profits were shown in the account, which boosted his confidence. Subsequently, the accused got him to transfer a total of Rs 7,12,500 in instalments to different bank accounts. The fraudsters then offered IPO investments and displayed a profit of Rs 1 crore in his account. However, when Mayank attempted to withdraw the amount, he was asked to deposit an additional Rs 20 lakh as a condition for withdrawal. Suspecting foul play, the victim contacted SEBI, where he was informed that he was cheated. He then lodged a complaint on the 1930 cyber helpline, following which Rs 3.47 lakh transferred to various accounts was put on hold. The victim said the WhatsApp group was named "Steady Hain Group", allegedly administered by one Kavya Godbole, while an account manager identifying himself as Raghavan Narayanan remained in contact throughout the transactions. Details of all bank accounts used in the fraud were submitted to the police. Gudamba police said efforts were underway to trace the bank accounts and identify the accused.