Lucknow: A city resident has alleged that he was duped of ₹74 lakh in an online trading scam in which fraudsters allegedly promised high returns and kept demanding payments on different pretexts to release his supposed profits.According to a complaint filed with Cyber Crime police, Hari Mohan, a resident of Sector-H in LDA Colony on Kanpur Road, was contacted on Facebook in April 2026 by a man who identified himself as Ganesh Agrawal. The caller allegedly convinced him to invest in an online trading scheme and later displayed a purported profit of $240,000.The complainant was told that the amount had been credited to a Barclays Bank account in London. Soon after, another person, identified as Hardik Patel, contacted him claiming to be linked with HM Revenue and Customs and Customs Department.Police said the accused began seeking money under multiple heads, including capital gains tax, currency conversion charges and insurance fees, repeatedly assuring the victim that the payments were mandatory to process and release the overseas funds. Trusting the claims, Hari Mohan allegedly transferred around ₹47.7 lakh in instalments.Later, the fraudsters allegedly shared what appeared to be an RBI-related communication and demanded another ₹23 lakh, citing the need for a Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate (FIRC). Despite further payments, the victim neither received the alleged profits nor recovered his investment.The accused allegedly continued to claim the funds were being held by RBI in Delhi and sought more money, also sending purported Crime Branch documents from Tamil Nadu to intimidate him. Cyber Crime police have registered a case and begun an investigation.
