PANAJI
The Cyber Crime Cell busted a stock trading scam with the arrest of two Maharashtra natives Noman Tamboli and Abhay Dandage. The youth, in their early 20s, are charged with allegedly defrauding a victim of Rs 11.60 lakh by persuading him to transfer funds into various bank accounts under the pretext of receiving huge returns on his investments.
At a press conference on Thursday, Superintendent of Police (Cyber Crime) Rahul Gupta disclosed the modus operandi of the fraudsters and urged the public to stay alert while dealing with the stock market through social media platforms.
“The accused contacted the victim-complainant via social media and WhatsApp and enticed him to trade in “A 703 Upsurge Club” and the WhatsApp group “Bulk AiD han Pro” for stock market investments,” he said.
Explaining the investigation trail, the SP stated that they traced Rs 4.90 lakh of the total amount lost to an account held by Aadesh Parcha, a resident of Jalna, Maharashtra. “Parcha was located and summoned for interrogation when he revealed that Abhay Dandage had asked him to use his bank account to receive the funds. It was then immediately withdrawn and handed over to Dandage for which the former was paid a commission of Rs 1,000 for each withdrawal,” he said.
Further inquiries led to Dandage’s arrest, during which he confessed that he transferred the withdrawn money to Noman Tamboli, also from Jalna, Maharashtra. Dandage claimed he received a commission of Rs 5,000 for each withdrawal and had provided around 20 bank accounts to Tamboli.
Dandage was arrested on September 18 while Tamboli was arrested on September 25 from a hotel near Mumbai Airport where he was hiding.
SP Gupta has urged the public to exercise caution when investing in the stock market through social media and various applications. “People are also advised to verify bank accounts before transferring money into any bank accounts as fraudsters use multiple bank accounts and withdraw money immediately on the same day, as there are chances of these bank accounts being frozen by different law enforcement agencies across the country,” the officer said.
