Hyderabad: A 50-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh has been caught by the Hyderabad Cybercrimes police for his role in an intricate online trading scam. He allegedly swindled a victim out of Rs 1.98 crore.
The police have identified the suspect as Aman Pal Singh. The case began when a resident of Hyderabad reported being scammed online. The victim was approached through Facebook by individuals claiming to work with “Barclays Wealth Management” and “UP Asset Allocation Z06.” They invited him to invest in their supposed companies, “Private Wealth Management” and “UPSTOX,” promising lucrative stock tips.
After joining a WhatsApp group led by the scammers, the victim was advised to put money into certain stocks, IPOs, and OTC stocks. Trusting their guidance, he invested. The scammers created a fake website showing the invested amount and fabricated profits. However, when the victim tried to withdraw his money, the option was blocked. The fraudsters then demanded extra payments, citing reasons like taxes and currency conversion fees, with the promise that his funds would be released afterward. Ultimately, the victim ended up losing Rs 1,98,25,000.
According to the cybercrime team, Aman Pal Singh obtains active bank accounts from agents in Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi to carry out these frauds. After using these accounts for illegal transactions, he meets with the account holders and suppliers at hotels in Greater Noida and New Delhi. There, they split the stolen money, with commissions based on bank statements.
