Man Duped Of ₹21.35 Lakh In Stock Market Investment Scam In Indore

A resident of Indore was allegedly defrauded of ₹21.35 lakh by cyber criminals posing as stock market investment advisors. The victim clicked on a Facebook advertisement link, which automatically added him to a WhatsApp group called "Circle of Trust" where admins promised high returns on stock investments.

The fraudsters convinced him to open a trading account through an application named Anantium Private Equity. Though he applied for a minimum of 10,000 shares expecting only 2-3% allocation, the platform manipulated his account to show an allocation of 2,230 shares and demanded ₹31.22 lakh. When unable to pay, he was threatened with account freezing and permanent forfeiture of invested funds.

Fearing loss of his investment, the victim withdrew his life savings and transferred ₹21.35 lakh to accounts provided by the accused. The fraud surfaced when his withdrawal request for ₹5 lakh was rejected with demands for additional processing fees. Police have registered a case and an investigation is underway.