New Delhi: A Dwarka resident was allegedly duped of Rs 17.3 lakh by scammers who lured him into investing in the forex market through a purported trading platform.The complainant came into contact with the suspects through WhatsApp in Jan. He was initially offered trading advice for the Indian stock market but was later persuaded to invest in forex, with the promise of higher returns. He was directed to use a purported trading website and asked to deposit funds to begin trading.He initially deposited about $4,500 and was shown a profit in the trading account. A small withdrawal was made as a test, which turned out to be successful, prompting him to invest more. Other members of the group later contacted him, offering trading tips and promising higher returns in exchange for a share of the profits.By Feb, the account showed around $23,000. When he tried to withdraw $5,000, the money was not credited. He was told a bank holiday had delayed the transaction.Days later, a trade resulted in a loss of around $22,622, wiping out the funds and profits shown in the account. He was persuaded to add more money to recover the losses; he deposited another $4,000.The account value later showed around $34,000. When he sought to withdraw $10,000, he was told it would be handed over the following day. However, another trade resulted in a loss of around $34,005. He was told to pay more to recover losses, which he did.The suspects subsequently stopped communicating with him. Soon, the purported trading website stopped working, and the account became inaccessible, but by that time he had already lost around Rs 17 lakh. He filed a complaint with Dwarka Cyber Police last month.
