Young scammer with MCA degree uses stock market returns as bait to loot over Rs 10 crore in one month
Jul 3, 2025
Synopsis
A cyber fraud, orchestrated by young individuals aged 27-28, has siphoned off over Rs 10 crore from unsuspecting Indian investors in just one month. Using social media platforms like WhatsApp, the scammers lured victims with promises of high stock market returns. Delhi Police investigates and arrests the fraudstars originally from Gorakhpur but operating this scam from Nepal.
There was something about this girl named Sakshi Yadav that made a guy from Delhi send Rs 8.15 lakh to her acquaintance’s bank account without even meeting her in person. She used her charm and some clever tricks to build trust through regular chats on WhatsApp. Once she felt confident that her tactics were working, she convinced him to open a stock market trading account using a link she provided and added him to a WhatsApp group called ‘eToro Analytical Team & Time is money’.
When the guy from Delhi asked the girl who was behind the WhatsApp group, she claimed that it was run by her uncle and another person named Rakesh. In that group, he was shown impressive profits from stock market investments and told stories of how others like him who invested are now living the good life. But it was all a scam, a trap set by Sakshi and her accomplices to trick unsuspecting people like him into handing over their money.
Check out how these young scammers originally from India but operating from Nepal, pulled off this scam and looted about Rs 10,40,94,000 (10 crores 40 lakh 94 thousand) in just one month from unsuspecting victims.
How did these 27- to 28-year-olds manage to loot more than Rs 10 crore in 1 month?
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) IPS Prashant Gautam explains how these young individuals, all between 27 and 28 years old, were able to steal over Rs 10 crore in just one month.
Gautam told ET Wealth Online: “The fraudsters approached victims through social media, Whatsapp or Telegram, claiming to be expert traders or financial advisors. They promised guaranteed high returns from stock market investment. Initially they ask the victims to invest a small amount and show fake profits or even return some money to build trust. Once trust is established, victims are persuaded to invest larger sums to earn more profit. After significant investment, the victim may be shown huge losses or may be told that the account is frozen due to tax or compliance issues. When the fraudsters extract maximum money, they stop responding or block the victim.”
The same thing happened with this Delhi guy who handed over Rs 8.15 lakh for investing. Once he figured out that it was a total scam, he quickly filed a complaint on the NCRP portal and filed a FIR.
Gautam says: “A case FIR No. 29/25 Dt. 02.04.25 u/s 318(4) BNS PS Cyber Shahdara, Delhi was registered. To work out the case, a team comprising SI Shweta Sharma, ASI Rajdeep, HC Javed, HC Harender & Const. Ranjeet was constituted and led by SHO/PS Cyber Sh. Vijay Kumar under the supervision of ACP/Ops Sh. Gurdev Singh.”
Gautam says that to pull off a scam of this magnitude, they needed numerous bank accounts. To acquire those accounts, they tempted people with money to open or give them access to their bank accounts. (This type of fraud is called money mule fraud, where you allow your bank account to be used by scammers to launder their ill-gotten money.)
Finding the money trail: Canara Bank in Andhra Pradesh to Axis Bank in Gorakhpur
The Delhi Police Cyber Cell looked into the bank accounts that the fraudsters used to receive the money from their victims and then launder it.
Gautam mentioned that a dedicated team from PS Cyber looked into the details of the suspected bank accounts. During the investigation, they found that Rs 5,75,000 was deposited into a Canara bank account, linked to someone in Andhra Pradesh. Following that, the money trail indicated that the entire sum was transferred to an Axis Bank account in Gorakhpur.”
Axis Bank helped out with the Delhi Police investigation and said that the beneficiary of the said Axis Bank account was one Shashi Pratap Singh along with his father Ramashankar Singh, both of whom live in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.
Gautam says: “After a lot of effort, the actual details of Shashi Pratap Singh were found, where he and his father met. The notice u/s 35.3 BNS was served to co accused Ramashankar Singh, father of accused Shashi Pratap Singh. The co-accused Ramashankar disclosed that he is the joint holder of the said Axis Bank account namely SRG TREE, Pvt Ltd with his son Shashi Pratap. He further disclosed that his son was the one who operated the said account, and he had no knowledge of the transactions.”
Arrest and interrogation of the fraudster reveal the scale of the scam
Gautam says: “After detailed interrogation of the accused Shashi Pratap Singh, he was arrested in the aforementioned case. From his possession, one mobile phone of Samsung along with registered SIM in alleged Axis Bank account, 2 stamps and 2 pamphlet cards of SRG TREE were recovered. The accused Shashi Pratap Singh disclosed that one boy namely Nihal Pandey had taken him to Nepal by flight, where in a hotel they stayed with 3 more boys. The accused Nihal Pandey was also arrested from Gorakhpur.”
Gautam says from Nihal Pandey, they recovered one chequebook of an Axis Bank account, which had the scammed amount of Rs 5,75,000 credited to it. The police also recovered 2 mobile phones and 3 SIM cards.
Gautam says: “The accused Nihal disclosed that another person demanded bank accounts from him. So, he took Shashi Pratap to Nepal along with him. Nihal used to take the SIM card from Shashi Pratap Singh and hand it over to that person. The accused Nihal promised to pay accused Shashi 1.5 percent of all transactions. They all stayed there for approximately 15 days. The total transactions of 1 month were about 10 crore 40 lac 94 thousand (rupees).”
Gautam also said that a person paid Rs 8 to 10 lakh to the accused, Shashi Pratap, in cash and Nihal got his commission also on this.
Gautam says after analyzing the account details and dedicated efforts, the team managed to arrest 2 accused persons namely:
1.Shashi Pratap Singh @ Sonu R/O Vill- Sarriya, Distt Gorakhpur, UP. AGE-28 YRS. Education- B.B.A.
2.Nihal Pandey R/O PS Sehjanwa, Distt Gorakhpur, UP. AGE-27 YRS. Education- M.C.A.
[The Economic Times]
