Online scams have undeniably permeated the very fabric of the internet, and this is a growing concern considering users not only increasingly rely on online services for basic tasks but also integrate them into learning and upskilling. However, scammers continually devise new ways to deceive individuals, whether they are unsuspecting newcomers seeking jobs or those aiming to earn extra income.
Now, in a recent incident, Sandeep Sarkar from Kolkata fell prey to an online stock trading scam, losing a whopping Rs 20 lakh. Unaware of the impending financial loss, he joined an online group promising tips for improved online trading, only to discover the significant monetary setback, as reported by The Indian Express.
As communicated by the police, both the 58-year-old man and his 27-year-old son are cancer patients and had decided to invest in stocks to better support themselves for their treatment. They were regularly investing through his demat account.
“In December, I came across a link on Facebook inviting people to attend a free online course on stock trading. I attended the course to learn new things and the organisers then added me to a WhatsApp group. I was even given a certificate on attending the course which I later realised was fake,” Sarkar was quoted as saying.
He added, “The webinar’s organisers added me to a WhatsApp group where I would get suggestions about stocks which were doing good in the market. I also saw other members sharing their experience on the group. The organisers soon suggested that if we invested through an institutional trading platform we would benefit more.”
Later, the scammers divided the group participants into a further group of 6, calling it the ‘Unified Organisational Trading Plan,’ and asked the users to use the online platform ‘Zoksa’ to invest. “They suggested that we should sell off all our insurance policies and stocks that we were investing in and then invest through them…. At that time, my Zoksa account showed that my money was invested in US stocks and my investments had reached Rs 1 crore. So, I kept investing through the company,” Sarkar said.
Things turned sour when Sarkar tried to withdraw his investment. He tried but failed to do it and ultimately raised the request with the group. The scammers ended up paying him just Rs 10,000, which made him suspicious. Later, he was told that he would need to pay Rs 13 lakh in taxes to be able to withdraw his money and get a tax certificate.
This made him realise what had happened, and he ultimately filed a complaint on February 9.
The police, alerting everyone, said that users should realise that no established company would function via groups on WhatsApp and Telegram. If someone adds them to such groups, they should immediately leave it to be safe.
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