Pune Police busts fake share trading racket, 5 arrested

Pune (Maharashtra) [India], April 11 : The Cyber Cell of Pimpri Chinchwad Police, Pune, busted a major share market fraud through which unsuspecting individuals were duped of several lakhs. The operation led to the apprehension of five individuals involved in the operation, an officer said.
The arrested individuals were identified as Juned Mukhtar Qureshi, Salman Mansur Shaikh, Abdul Aziz Ansari, Arif Anwar Khan, and Taufik Gaffar Shaikh.
According to DCP Sandeep Doiphode from the Crime Branch, following complaints from residents of Pimpri Chinchwad city in Pune district, who collectively lost Rs 31 lakh to the fraudsters, the law enforcement authorities initiated a thorough investigation. Using advanced technical analysis, the police successfully identified and apprehended five suspects linked to the fake share trading application.
During the operation, police also recovered a sum of Rs. 7 lakh, 7 mobile phones, a cash counting machine, 8 debit cards from various banks, and 12 chequebooks from different banks, Doiphode informed.
"It was found during the investigation that all five accused defrauded several people of crores of rupees through approximately 120 bank accounts. They had an overseas link as well, as they also received money from people off-shore which they converted into cryptocurrencies and diverted to their handlers in Hong Kong," Doiphode said on Wednesday.
The senior officer informed further that the "accused were unemployed and used to target people, who took an interest in share trading. Later, they used to add these people to a WhatsApp group and ask them to invest for better returns. However, after some days, the accused went cold and didn't respond to messages from depositors."
Doifide also urged citizens to make investments only through independent and authentic share trading investment companies and avoid falling for fake promises from unauthentic traders.