New Delhi: Online scams have infested our social set up with people being conned, tricked, duped into high level thefts by fraudsters. In one such recent case, a Bengaluru man lost a whopping Rs 5.2 crore after he clicked on a link on WhatsApp to download stock market app.
The 52-year-old man from Bengaluru's Jayanagar was approached by fraudsters on various modes --Whatsapp group, phone calls prominsing opportunities for “high-return investments", as per a report by the Times of India.
The Bengaluru businessman was also added to a WhatsApp group named "Y-5 Ever Core Financial Leader" that had nearly 160 members. But he continued to ignore the messages. The fraudsters then started to bombard him with multiple phone calls.
Initially the man did not pay heed to such promises by the fraudsters, but eventually he was convinced into downloading a link that directed him an app "bys-app.com".
After downloading the link, the businessman was further lured by multiple investment opportunities that 'yielded high returns'. The entire plot to dupe the man, that started on March 11, had its final strike on April 2 when he transferred Rs 5.2 crore into the bogus accounts managed by the fraudsters. Upon realising that he had fallen prey to a scame, he tried to withdraw a part of profits or principal investment, however he was refused.
The Bengaluru man later filed an FIR under the IT Act.
How To Identify Online Scam?
Fintech major PhonePe had shared important information about the latest online scam trends and how to identify them.
1. Unrealistic gains
Fraud brokers excessively promote the idea of making tiny investments to reap implausible profits
2. Impossible to withdraw the investment
As profits rise and the individual wishes to withdraw money, the purported earnings are made to seem inaccessible
3.Invest more for better profits
Savvy fraudsters never stop requesting more money, coming up with creative justifications and the promise of withdrawals in the near future
4. Non-responsive
Scammers are not responsive, always inaccessible and after extracting a considerable amount of money, stop answering altogether
