The Cyber Crime Wing of the Rachakonda police in Hyderabad on Friday arrested two men for allegedly running a fake firm, which claimed to advise stock market investors and cheated those who approached them.
The main accused were identified as 27-year-old Rahul Kumar and 26-year-old Surya Chaitanya, both residents of Bengaluru.
The police said that they received a complaint on July 30, from a Hyderabad-based victim, who stated that he had received phone calls and emails from the accused, saying that they were employees of a national stock research company in Bengaluru, that had contacts with the National stock exchange.
The police said that the accused claimed that they were not only an advisory company but would also give accurate calls for buying and selling stocks to get good returns in 28 trading days.
Investigation officials said that the accused asked the complainant to transfer money to their company and promised 5 to 11 times profit on his investments.
"On trusting their words, from July 2 to July 8, the complainant transferred Rs 1,81,116 to the bank accounts of the company. After the payment, he waited till July 16 but didn't see any progress from their side. The complainant made phone calls and sent emails several times to them about his invested amount but they have not responded to his efforts," the police said in a press note.
Following this, he approached the police. A case has been registered under Sections 417 (Cheating), 419 (Cheating by personation) and 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the IPC besides relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.
A police team then visited Bengaluru and arrested the accused and seized several computers, phones and a laptop besides other miscellaneous items.
"The general public are cautioned not to believe persons who call in the name of stock market trading or provide services by giving advice and making an investment in the share market on your behalf to get abnormal profits within short periods. Trusting them, do not transfer any amount either online or in any other form as they are entirely fake," the police advised.
The accused were produced before a court and sent to judicial remand.