A 66-year-old retired mechanical engineer from Hyderabad’s Nizampet has allegedly lost Rs 55.69 lakh in an online trading fraud after scammers lured him into a fake investment platform operating through a WhatsApp group.
The victim approached the police on September 15, 2026, following the alleged fraud. Cyberabad Cyber Crime Police have registered a case and launched an investigation.
According to the complaint, the man joined a WhatsApp group named “BNP Paribas Internal Trading Account” on July 10 after seeing an advertisement. The group, which had around 149 members, claimed to offer trading education and was allegedly run by a person identifying himself as “Prof. Sanjay Singh”.
Another group member, who introduced herself as “Rani Deshmukh”, allegedly claimed to be Singh’s assistant and offered to help members trade through what she described as a BNP Paribas internal equity account.
She subsequently directed the victim to a web-based trading platform and helped him create an account for making deposits and carrying out trades.
Fake profits used to gain trust
The victim initially deposited Rs 50,000 on August 4 from his ICICI Bank account to a Bank of India account provided through the platform. He was shown various trading options, including upper-circuit and block trades, along with large profits.
He was also able to withdraw Rs 5,000 initially, which allegedly strengthened his confidence in the platform.
Between August 5 and August 21, he made several further deposits ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 3.5 lakh. The scammers allegedly asked him to enter special charge codes for the transactions, claiming these were required for institutional trading accounts.
The platform continued displaying substantial profits. According to the complaint, it eventually showed a profit of more than Rs 77 crore.
IPO offers followed
The victim was later allegedly encouraged to invest in an IPO named “Gaja Alternative Asset Management Ltd.” He was told that he had been allotted 1.18 lakh shares and was asked to deposit additional money towards the subscription.
When he subsequently attempted to withdraw his funds, the scammers allegedly claimed that his money had become locked in another IPO, “Lumino Industries”. He was then asked to pay another Rs 12.09 lakh.
Further demands followed, including charges described as a service fee on profits, an advance income tax payment and platform usage charges.
Despite making the additional payments, the victim was unable to withdraw his money. The withdrawal facility was eventually disabled, the WhatsApp group was shut down and the people involved stopped responding to his messages.
Lifetime savings wiped out
The victim told police that he transferred a total of Rs 55,69,744 through bank accounts and UPI IDs provided by the scammers. Only Rs 5,000 was returned to him.
He alleged that the fraud wiped out his lifetime savings and also involved money borrowed through a loan.
The Cyberabad Cyber Crime Police have registered a case and are investigating the bank accounts, UPI IDs, fake trading platform and WhatsApp accounts allegedly used in the scheme. The complaint names several individuals, including those using the identities “Sanjay Singh” and “Rani Deshmukh”.
