2 Rajasthan men held for stock trading frauds

The Cybercrime Cell of the UT police has arrested two persons for duping stock investors of more than Rs 66 lakh by posing as legitimate brokers and investment advisers.

The suspects were identified as Mukesh Kumar Gujar (33) of Rampura Papat, Jaipur, and Lalit Saini (23) of Sanganer, also in Jaipur. They were arrested in separate cases. Sub Inspectors Yashpal Singh and Jaskirandeep Kaur headed the respective teams that nabbed them in Rajasthan.

Mukesh was arrested in a case registered on the complaint of Ashok Kumar, a resident of Sector 35. Ashok had received a phone call from a woman, claiming to be Rekha Aggarwal, who lured him with promises of massive profits through online trading on a platform, IBKR (Interactive Broker). After connecting him to a “client manager”, named Rajiv Mehta, the victim was sent a malicious link that downloaded a fake trading app onto his phone. With fraudulent guidance, he began trading, only to be locked out of the app and the communication group after attempting to withdraw funds. By then, he had already been defrauded of Rs 56 lakh.

In another case, Lalit’s bank account was used to cheat Rs 10.5 lakh out of Vinod Handa, a resident of Sector 49-A. Vinod was drawn in by a Facebook advertisement promoting a WhatsApp group named Zerodha-VIP.com. Enticed by apparent initial returns and repeated reassurances from group members, he transferred money in multiple transactions. When he requested to withdraw his funds, the scammers demanded additional deposits under false pretences before cutting off all contacts.

Chandigarh