A 56-year-old tarot-card reader from Mumbai’s Andheri recently lost Rs 8 lakh in a share-trading cyber fraud. The MIDC police registered a case and initiated an investigation on Tuesday.
The woman, who uses tarot cards to gain insight into the past, present, or future, came across an advertisement on Facebook regarding investment in the share market last month, the police said. She clicked on the link and joined a WhatsApp group. In the group, one Kersi Tawadiya and his assistant Rashi Arora guided members on which stock to invest in, she told the police.
The complainant, whose husband is in the fabric-printing business, trusted them after checking their social media accounts and the name of the company they were working for.
According to the FIR, the accused shared a link and instructed the woman to install a profitable trading app on her mobile phone. The woman followed their instructions and transferred money to the bank accounts they provided for trading purposes, said a police officer.
She said she initially made profits and then began investing heavily in share trading. According to the FIR, a few days later, the accused suggested she buy shares in the “Rajputana IPO” to achieve significant profits. She said she took a loan of Rs 4.5 lakh to do this.
Threat of fines
The accused pressured her to make additional investments, but she declined because she had no money. In response, one of the accused threatened her, saying that if she did not deposit Rs 1 lakh, all her investments and profits would be confiscated as a fine, according to the police complaint.
This prompted the woman to suspect something fishy was going on. She again checked the accused’s social media profiles and found that the real Kersi Tawadiya had posted a message saying some people were misusing his name to dupe people.
The woman then realised that she had been defrauded of nearly Rs 8 lakh, approached the police, and filed a cheating complaint. The police said they were trying to trace the culprits by following the money trail.
The Mumbai police urged citizens to thoroughly enquire before sending money to any unknown person. They said if anyone falls victim to a cybercrime, they should immediately contact the National Cyber Crime Helpline at 1930. Prompt reporting to 1930 increases the chances of recovering lost funds, the police said.