Mangaluru: A 46-year-old man has alleged that he was cheated by fraudsters who lured him into online trading through a WhatsApp group. He stated that he received a message on his WhatsApp on Sep 2, 2025, from a person identified as Praveen Patel. He promised to provide information related to trading and began sharing daily updates about the stock market.On Sept 17, Patel explained his investment journey, detailing profits, losses, and the benefits of investing. He advised the complainant on how to go about the investments and asked him to contact Chris Harper, sharing his cellphone number. Initially, the complainant was advised to start with an investment of Rs 50,000. Accordingly, on Oct 6, he transferred Rs 50,000 to a current account in the name of Raj Traders, Odisha. Within two days, he was shown a profit of approximately Rs 6,500.
When the complainant attempted to withdraw Rs 1,500, the amount was credited to his account within one hour, which further increased his confidence.On Oct 19, the complainant again contacted Harper, and as instructed, transferred Rs 1 lakh to an account. Based on Patel’s advice, the complainant continued trading with a total investment of Rs 1.6 lakh and was shown a profit of Rs 1.7 lakh. The complainant stated that although he was permitted to invest in 182 shares and used the available funds accordingly, he was forced to invest in a higher number of shares. When he attempted to invest the balance amount in his account, a technical error allegedly resulted in double the number of shares being allotted. The amount payable was shown as Rs 3.7 lakh, despite the complainant applying for fewer shares.As instructed, the complainant went on making investments. However, the total value of all shares shown as invested by the complainant was Rs 13.7 lakh. Upon selling all the shares after the app displayed 200% profit, the amount shown was Rs 42 lakh. However, when the complainant requested the withdrawal of his invested amount, the accused demanded payment of 38% as tax, stating that the amount would not be released otherwise. A case was registered at Surathkal police station.
