The Crime Investigation Department (CID) of Odisha Police arrested as many as 24 cybercriminals from Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan on the charge of duping a man of Rs 6.28 crore in Odisha by floating a fake investment company.
The CID officials said Kuntal Majumdar had lodged a complaint on 24 August alleging that in July, he was automatically added in a WhatsApp Group ‘Kotak Investment Club’ by the admin of the group.
The group offered attractive investment schemes to lure the complainant. Believing the group to be a genuine trading company, he invested a whopping Rs 6.28 crore between 1 to 7 August. Immediately after investment, the base price of the share suddenly increased with his fund value shooting up to Rs 25 crore.
When the complainant attempted to withdraw his funds, he was promptly removed from the WhatsApp group by the Group Admin, and the App used for transactions was deactivated.
The CID wing after reviewing the money trail identified over 100 different bank accounts to which the entire amount of Rs 6.28 crore were transferred between 1 August to 7 August last. During investigation, all the accounts have been freezed with a Credit Balance of Rs 16.85 lakh, besides return of Rs 6.80 lakh to the complainant’s account.
After a thorough verification of bank details and other documents collected during investigation, the CID identified 24 accused persons in the States like Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
The CID has apprehended nine accused from Tamil Nadu, eight accused from Gujarat and seven from Rajasthan so far. While 17 of them were remanded to judicial custody after production in Courts, seven other people arrested from Rajasthan are being brought to Odisha on transit remand, CID added.
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