A Salt Lake resident has been allegedly cheated out of ₹1.79 crore in an investment fraud.
Sajan Kumar Agarwal, 57, a resident of Sector-I of the township, has told police that he had received a link through WhatsApp which shared the details of a “wealth management” company.
“They had sent a link through WhatsApp and asked to log in to the site by creating an identity and password. After joining, I created my member ID and password on the website,” a police officer quoted the complainant.
The investments started from September 29, and the last payment was made on November 3. The total amount invested within this period was ₹1,79,40,000.
The police said that the complainant apparently received a purported SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India)-stamped certificate for all payments.
He told the police that a woman named Ananya Varma was coordinating with him, and she had introduced herself as the assistant of the group.
Agarwal had no inkling of the foul play until he recently decided to withdraw some money.
“The woman who was coordinating told Agarwal that his score had dropped to 95 from 100 and that for withdrawing his money, he needed at least 100 points. She had advised him to pay another ₹25 lakh — ₹5 lakh for one point — so that his score could be 100 again. Then he could withdraw his money,” said an officer of Bidhannagar police commissionerate.
Agarwal realised that this clause was not mentioned at the initial time of the contract and hence raised an objection.
The woman had also promised to meet him at the company’s Mumbai office, but allegedly kept delaying the meeting.
When the woman did not meet him to clarify things, he realised that he was cheated and decided to report it to the police on Saturday.
Bidhannagar cyber crime police have initiated a probe into the case.
No one was arrested till Sunday evening, the police said.