Wife of Former IPS Officer Defrauded of ₹2.58 Crore in Investment Scam

A woman, without fully understanding the situation, added her husband, a former IPS officer, to a WhatsApp group where they received messages claiming to provide stock market trading tips. The cybercriminals behind the group persuaded them that they could earn 500% returns, attempting to defraud the victims.

The fraudsters further misled the victims by claiming the platform was a SEBI-certified website and even sent fake SEBI certificates via WhatsApp. Believing these advertisements, the couple invested a total of ₹2.58 crore across 19 transactions from December 24 of last year to the 5th of this month.

When the couple hesitated to invest further, the fraudsters repeatedly pressured them to continue investing and threatened that their existing funds would be lost. Realizing it was a scam, the victims lodged a complaint with the Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police, who have registered a case and initiated an investigation.