The Cyber Police Station of Pimpri Chinchwad arrested a gang on Sunday for defrauding an individual of Rs57.7 lakh by promising high returns on stock market investments. The accused converted the swindled money into cryptocurrency to evade detection.
The arrested suspects are Sahil Anwar Sayyed (22), a BBA student; Bhupendra Avtar Singh (34), a passport agent; and Sarfaraz Rafiq Sayyed (29), a garage owner — all residents of Kondhwa. Police revealed that they used their personal and professional bank accounts to carry out the fraudulent transactions.
The victim, an accountant working in a private firm, reported that he was lured by false promises of high returns through a stock market app. After investing Rs57.7 lakh, the app showed profits of Rs5.15 crore. However, when he attempted to withdraw the money, he was asked to pay various fees, raising suspicion. Realizing the fraud, he lodged a complaint with the Pimpri Cyber Police.
Investigations uncovered that part of the stolen money was transferred to an account under Maruf Real Estate and withdrawn in cash. Bhupendra allegedly withdrew the cash and passed it to Sahil and Sarfaraz, who exchanged it for cryptocurrency to launder the funds.
Inspector Ravikiran Nale, the investigating officer, noted that a film producer named Shivam Balkrishna Samvatsarkar was arrested earlier in a similar scam.
