Vadodara: A 61-year-old man was allegedly duped of Rs 51 lakh by a gang of cyberfrauds who lured him with promises of high returns through stock market investments. The victim, Mahendra Maru, filed a complaint of cheating at the Cybercrime police station in Vadodara on Sunday.According to the complaint, Maru received a WhatsApp call in June from a man who introduced himself as Ravi and told him about various stock market investment schemes. Although Maru initially refused to invest, the accused later lured him with a scheme promising a profit of Rs 2 lakh. Ravi allegedly told him that he would take 10% of the profit as commission.Convinced by the promise, Maru used his demat account to buy shares suggested by the accused. In July, another man contacted him and advised him to invest in shares of a particular company. Maru followed the instructions but incurred losses.The accused then encouraged him to invest in shares of other companies, claiming that their other clients were making substantial profits. They also sent screenshots of purported profits to convince Maru that the investments were genuine.The gang then asked Maru to open a new demat account specifically for stock trading. After he submitted the required documents to open the account, the accused told him they would manage the investments on his behalf.Maru was then instructed to transfer money to several bank accounts for stock trading. Between Aug and Sep, he made multiple transactions and transferred more than Rs 52 lakh to different accounts.To gain his confidence, the accused allowed him to withdraw Rs 97,000. They later informed him that his investments were running at a loss and told him that he would need to invest additional money to withdraw his funds.Maru subsequently informed his son about the investments. Suspecting that he had fallen victim to a cyber scam, he approached the police and lodged a complaint. The Cybercrime police have registered a case and investigations are underway.
