The Mumbai police have uncovered a fake stock trading call centre operating from Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain city and arrested three alleged fraudsters who were part of a gang that cheated investors by promising them hefty returns, an official said on Thursday.
The illegal call centre, which was detected during a raid by the Mumbai police, was used to lure investors by promising them very high returns on investment in share markets, he said.
During the raid, a police team recovered data consisting mobile phone numbers of three lakh customers along with other important materials, said the official. The police action was part of an investigation launched after a 56-year-old man from Mumbai’s Matunga area lodged a complaint, alleging he was duped of Rs 8.33 lakh on pretext of investing in stock markets, he said.
During the probe, it came to light that there were 39 cases pending against the three accused persons for duping investors using the same modus operandi, the official said. According to the official, the Matunga-based complainant had received a call in February when the person on the other side explained him about investment in share markets and hefty returns from equity trading.
The caller asked him to download an app, ’Profit Bull’, on his mobile and invest through it. Initially, the complainant put in Rs 7,500 and received good returns. After gaining his confidence the caller asked him to invest more, he said.In all, the man invested Rs 8.33 lakh but did not get returns on it. Feeling cheated, he approached the Matunga Police Station with a complaint and a case was registered against unidentified cyber fraudsters, said the official.
During the investigation, police arrested a 62-year-old resident of Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, Raj Bahadur Ram Singh Bhadoria, from the Mumbai airport on April 6. Bhadoria used to transfer money siphoned from investors in various bank accounts at Ujjain and Indore, he said.Acting on other leads, the police arrested two more accused – Ankit alias Rajkumar Shinde (30) and Sanjay Bairagi (28) — residents of Indore and Ujjain, respectively, said the official.
During their interrogation, the police got information about the illegal stock trading call centre being operated by them from Ujjain, he said.The unauthorised facility was operational for the last several months and was used to cheat investors from various parts of the country, the official said.
He did not disclose the exact amount of money lost by investors, but added it may run into crore of rupees.
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