Mumbai: Goregaon bizwoman loses Rs 33 lakh to finfluencer clone

The woman said she was duped after clicking on a link sent to her on WhatsApp. Representation Pic

The Mumbai police cybercrime division has registered a fraud case against unknown persons based on a complaint filed by a businesswoman from Goregaon, who claimed that she was duped of Rs 33.89 lakh after clicking on a link sent to her on WhatsApp. According to the complainant, 52, the alleged fraud took place between April and June this year. The woman said she was looking for a financial investment adviser and came across a YouTube channel, following which she was added to a WhatsApp group and later duped.

In her statement to the police, she said that she joined a WhatsApp group ‘Long Creek Capital 73' where a person identified as Deepak (last name not known) provided investment advice and organised daily webinars offering investment tips. To build trust, documents were also shared showing they were Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)-registered and provided company details, claiming registration in the United States, the woman stated.

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She said that based on the tips and strategies provided during the webinars, she started investing through her own trading account. However, she suffered losses and mentioned this to Deepak but was reassured by him and other people on the WhatsApp group to not worry about the loses as many have reportedly made significant profits.

The complaint states that she continued to observe the group and eventually downloaded the ‘Long Creek Capital 73' app. After an initial investment of R1 lakh, the app showed a 70 per cent profit, which encouraged her to invest more to a tune of Rs 33 lakh. The woman said she tried to withdraw her money, however, it was advised that she should wait. However, when she began questioning and did not receive satisfactory answers, she realised she might have been scammed and later her account was showing empty.

According to the Mumbai police, stock market investment cyber fraud cases have been on the rise since the past few months. As per the data from the police, 906 cases have been reported and 214 people have been arrested so far till May this year.