A retired bank employee in Faridabad fell victim to a Facebook-driven online investment scam, losing ₹321,999 in a broader crackdown on cyber frauds across the city involving social media and mule accounts.
A retired bank employee in Faridabad has lost ₹321,999 after being drawn into a bogus share-trading and online investment scheme that began with a Facebook advertisement and continued through WhatsApp messages, according to local reports. Police said the victim, who lives in Sector 7D in Ballabgarh, transferred the money in multiple payments between 16 April and 29 April before realising that the promised returns would never materialise.
Investigators said the fraud was part of a wider cybercrime network that used bank accounts supplied by so-called account providers to move stolen money. Faridabad police’s cyber cell traced the transactions and arrested three men from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, including Ankur Shrivastav, a BTech graduate working as a software engineer, according to the report. The other suspects were identified as Vivek Rai and Prakash Sarkar. Police said Sarkar had obtained bank accounts from others and passed them on through Telegram to help the main fraudsters receive illicit funds.
The case adds to a long list of cyber frauds in and around Faridabad, where police have repeatedly uncovered schemes that rely on social media, fake banking claims and mule accounts. In April 2023, officers arrested three people, including two Nigerians, over a dating-app racket that allegedly cheated more than 75 women and led to the recovery of around ₹2 crore from bank accounts. In another case, reported in March 2023, eight people were held over an online credit-card fraud network that investigators said was linked to about 1,000 incidents across the country.
Faridabad police have also reported a sharp rise in cybercrime arrests. By December 2023, authorities said they had arrested 317 people in cyber fraud cases that year and recovered ₹5.2 crore, with complaints ranging from quick-loan scams and work-from-home frauds to KYC abuse, impersonation and sextortion. The latest arrests underline how cyber gangs continue to exploit everyday digital platforms, from Facebook and WhatsApp to Telegram, to reach victims and obscure the trail of stolen money.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
