In a major cybercrime breakthrough, Puducherry Cyber Crime Police arrested Ashwin Vignesh, a 32-year-old engineer from Neelankarai, Chennai, for allegedly orchestrating a massive Rs8.5 crore fraud involving a fake AI-based stock trading software. Over 1,000 victims across India are believed to have fallen prey to the scam.
The arrest followed a complaint filed on May 15, 2025, by Jayaraj, a resident of Puducherry. Jayaraj stated he was duped by a firm named “Algo Trading”, which falsely advertised a high-return AI trading app on social media. The application, priced at Rs40,000, was never delivered after payment.
According to Senior Superintendent of Police Narra Chaitanya and SP Bhaskaran, the fraudulent operation was traced to Velachery and Nandanam in Chennai, where the company was reportedly functioning under both the names “Algo Trading” and “Alco Trading”.
Online records from the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) showed over 1,000 similar complaints nationwide, with victims reporting losses between Rs30,000 and Rs50,000. The company lured people by falsely promising daily earnings of Rs3,000 to Rs6,000 on investments of Rs1 lakh.
The cyber crime team arrested Vignesh from his Velachery office on Sunday morning. The raid led to the seizure of:
14 laptops
6 mobile phones
Rs7.3 lakh cash
One luxury car
Other digital equipment
Vignesh, who also holds an MBA, turned to fraud after quitting a low-paying job in Bengaluru. Police revealed he used multiple bank accounts—his own, his wife’s, and friends’—to transfer the scammed money. All the accounts have been frozen.
Authorities are now pursuing Vignesh’s associates, including those who provided banking channels and staff involved in the fake software operation.
Police are urging the public to verify investment schemes before paying and to report suspicious activity via the cyber helpline 1930 or local cybercrime units.
