From Pune to Bangkok via gold and crypto: Cops establish money trail in online share trading frauds

Since January this year, both Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad police have reported a huge uptick in cases of online share trading frauds in which cyber criminals lure targets with expert training, and promises of very high returns on stock trading. The cyber fraudsters also gain trust of victims by misusing names of trusted international brokerage firms and private sector banks.

Achieving an important breakthrough in these cases, the Cyber Crime cell of Pimpri Chinchwad police initially arrested two persons Vikas Chavan (43), a furniture trader and Pradeep Lad (32), a real estate agent, who owned the fraudulent bank accounts that received money from the victims. Probe revealed that the two accounts held by the duo had seen transactions running into Rs 50 crore over a short period.

“The investigation following the first two arrests led us to a suspect identified as Amit Soni from Gujarat who was managing a network of such fraudulent bank accounts. It came to light that using the money from these accounts, Soni used to purchase bullion gold from traders in Gujarat. He then used to sell this gold in for cash and give the cash to another key suspect Ahmed Nazir Ghazi, whom we have arrested,” said Inspector Vaibhav Shingare of the Cyber Crime Cell of Pimpri Chinchwad police.

“We now know that Ghazi has been using this cash to buy Tether cryptocurrency also referred to as USDT to be deposited to the cryptocurrency wallets operated by suspects which include Ghazi’s brother and another person named Mufaddal. Probe suggests that these two suspects work for an international gang of cyber criminals based out of Bangkok,” Inspector Shingare added. Chavan, Lad, Soni and Ghazi have all been arrested in the past month.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Doiphode said, “Our investigation shows that these suspects used money from six bank accounts, which were used to receive funds swindled from the victims of share trading frauds. These six accounts have been used in 177 cases reported nationwide and have seen transactions of more than Rs 100 crores. We will continue our probe into the money trail.”

Cyber investigators are calling this an ‘epidemic’ of online trading scams seen since the beginning of the year with 110 people losing a staggering Rs 18 crores in January and February this year in Pune. SEBI’s advisory in this regard on February 26 highlighted the fraudsters’ tactics, including posing as SEBI-registered entities and exploiting social media to promote fraudulent trading schemes.