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2 hours ago
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Two senior citizens from Hyderabad were defrauded of over ₹1.18 crore in separate cybercrimes that relied on forged government documents, fake trading apps, and psychological manipulation.
In the first case, a 64-year-old man from Yousufguda lost ₹86.41 lakhs after being lured into investing through two fake trading apps falsely claiming to operate under SEBI approval. He was approached via WhatsApp with offers of daily trading profits in institutional stocks, OTC trades, and IPOs under the QIB quota. Through one of the platforms, he deposited ₹71.75 lakhs and was shown a notional profit of ₹4.78 crores. When he attempted to withdraw ₹2.5 crores, he was asked to first pay a 20% profit share, which he could not deduct from the app balance.
Similarly, on the second platform, he invested ₹14.66 lakhs on which he earned a ‘profit’ of ₹5.56 lakhs. However, access was blocked when he refused to pay upfront charges including a 30% profit share. To intensify the pressure, the fraudsters even sent a fake Enforcement Directorate (ED) notice accusing him of money laundering.
In a separate incident, an 83-year-old retired government employee from Lalaguda was conned out of ₹32.2 lakhs through a fake arrest warrant scam on June 23, 2025. He received a threatening phone call alleging an arrest warrant had been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. A forged ED document bearing his Aadhaar number and counterfeit seals were used. Impersonators posing as ED and police officials warned of immediate arrest and deportation to Mumbai, pushing the victim into panic.
The scammers coerced him into making multiple payments to close the case, later demanding additional sums as ‘loyalty payments’ to officials who allegedly helped him. They falsely promised a government refund with compensation and continued communication even after payments stopped, maintaining the illusion of an ongoing legal issue.
Both the cases are under investigation.
English (US) ·