Three held for duping college student of ₹52L in stock market scam

Hindustan Times

22-05-2025

MUMBAI: Three men were arrested for allegedly defrauding a 21-year-old college student of ₹52 lakh by luring her into a fake stock market investment scheme and promising high returns.
The North Cyber Police, based in the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), identified the accused as Mohammad Asif Mohammad Aslam Rahim, 28, Sushant Suresh Sapkat, 26, and Yusuf Mohammad Sheikh, 30. According to investigators, the trio had provided their bank account details to key cyber fraudsters who orchestrated the scam.
The accused were produced before the Borivali court and remanded to police custody. A special operation is now underway to trace and arrest other individuals involved in the racket.
The complainant, a resident of Malad and an M Com student at a reputed city college, approached the Cyber Helpline after realising she had been duped. Her father is a senior manager with a bank in Borivali.
Police said the woman, who is active on social media, was researching stock trading online in February last year when she came across a suspicious link. After clicking on it, her mobile number was added to a WhatsApp group administered by two individuals—Vinod Nair and his associate, Sushant Kumar.
She spent about a week observing the group's posts, which shared seemingly legitimate stock tips. Gaining her trust, Sushant Kumar eventually persuaded her to open an account through a trading platform linked in the group.
Without informing her family, she began investing in shares through the platform. Over time, she was added to other WhatsApp groups that reinforced the illusion of high profits. Between February 8 and March 21, 2024, she made multiple investments totalling ₹52 lakh.
Initially, the trading app showed encouraging returns. However, when she attempted to withdraw some profits, the transfer failed. Kumar instructed her to pay a 10% 'penalty fee' of ₹2.5 lakh to unlock the funds—but even after making the payment, the money remained inaccessible. When she raised concerns, Kumar stopped responding and eventually removed her from the group.
Realising she had been scammed, the student filed a complaint with the North Regional Cyber Cell.
Acting on the FIR, investigators traced the flow of money and identified the bank accounts into which the funds were deposited. On Monday, based on this evidence, police arrested Asif, Sapkat, and Sheikh from different locations across the city.
Interrogation revealed that the trio received the defrauded money in their accounts, withdrew it via ATMs, and handed it over to the masterminds behind the operation. In return, they received a commission. Police also found that the accused had provided multiple bank accounts to the fraudsters to facilitate similar scams.
'We are currently investigating how many others may have been cheated using the same modus operandi, and how many accounts were used to receive and route the illicit funds,' said a senior official from the North Cyber Police Station.