Online trading fraud: Doctor arrested for allegedly cheating investor of Rs 42 lakh
Hyderabad: A 37-year-old doctor was recently arrested for allegedly cheating a local investor to the tune of Rs 41.98 lakh on the pretext of forex trading investment by colluding with a Chinese national.
The scam came to light after a victim who was duped of 41.98 lakhs approached the cyber crime police informing that he had noticed posts on Facebook about lucrative forex trading opportunities and responded to one of them.
The doctor has been identified as a resident of Indore, who went to China in 2007 and completed his medical education from Zhengzhou University in 2014. He also has a diploma in Madrian.
As per recent media accounts, the medical practitioner came in contact with the main accused in the case is Mao Zhibin, who runs a fraudulent forex trading company from Vietnam and China, along with Annie Pierce alias Monica. She sweet talks the customers into investing huge funds, in 2015 at a restaurant.
Though the doctor returned to India but a few months ago, Mao contacted the doctor requesting him to open an office for forex trading and appointed him as marketing manager-cum-local business coordinator as he wanted to expand business there but can not visit India due to COVID.
The doctor allegedly received the amount from the victim for investing in forex and bought cryptocurrency with it. After that, it was transferred to the owner's account in China.
According to Times of India, a few months ago, one of the victims from Nagole approached Rachakonda cyber crime police and informed that he has been allegedly duped of Rs 41.98 Lakhs. He stated that he noticed some advertisements on Facebook about beneficial forex trading opportunities and he responded to one of them. He delivered the amount to the doctor to invest in forex.
Cybercrime Inspector M Shankar told the daily, "The fraudsters made the complainant transfer Rs 41.98 lakh into the bank account of the doctor on the pretext of investing it in forex trading. Later, they stopped responding to messages."
Thereafter, the police started tracking the bank details and successfully nabbed the doctor. Police arrested him and brought him to the city on Monday. He was sent to judicial remand. Police also seized his iPhone along with his sim card for further investigation. Further, his bank account which had an amount of 11 Lakhs has been frozen by the officials.
UNI reports that one of the officials confirmed that the main accused in the case was running a fraudulent forex trading company from China, along with his accomplice. The accomplice sweet-talked the customers into investing huge funds. Eventually the doctor allegedly also started working for them. However, the doctor has denied the allegations and stated that he was not aware of the illegal intentions of the owner.
One of the investigating officers told TOI, "A few months ago, the owner contacted the doctor requesting him to open an office for forex trading and appointed him as marketing manager-cum-local business coordinator. The owner and his associate, lured the victim to deposit Rs 41.98 lakh in the doctor's bank account. He made the doctor buy USDT cryptocurrency and transferred the same to his bank accounts in China. The doctor claimed he was unaware of the owner's plans."
The doctor allegedly followed the instruction of the owner and opened a current account with Federal Bank, Indore for financial transactions. As per the instructions of the owner, his other accomplice lured the victim (complainant of this case) and deposited an amount of Rs.41,98,508 from December 1, 2020 to December 17 in the bank account. The doctor then purchased cryptocurrency on an app called "Binance App". Later the amount was transferred to the owner's personal bank account in China.
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