Mumbai: The Central Region Cyber ​​Police Station has arrested three individuals from Thane district for allegedly defrauding a 73-year-old man of ₹3.81 crore on the pretext of offering high returns on stock market investments. The arrested persons have been identified as Satish Suryanath Yadav (27), Vikas Ramshankar Maurya (27) and Sachin Krishnanand Chaurasia (23).

According to the police, after receiving the victim’s complaint, the Cyber ​​Helpline team (1930), with the support of the bank, managed to freeze ₹15.29 lakh fraudulent transactions. Officer Mausami Patil of the Central Cyber ​​Police Station revealed that Satish Yadav had set up a shell company named Shield Associates, where the stolen funds were deposited. Yadav opened the account with the help of his accomplice, Vikas Maurya, who rented these accounts to cyber fraudsters for commissions. The third accused, Chaurasia, provided the SIM card used to create the fraudulent bank account.

Police said the scammers lured the victim into investing in the stock market by promising exorbitant profits. Trusting their fake assurances, the victim transferred ₹3.81 crore to their accounts. When the promised returns stopped and he attempted to withdraw the principal amount, the victim realized they had been scammed and filed a complaint.

During the investigation, cyber police traced the fraudulent transactions to a specific bank account. This led to the arrest of the accused individuals responsible for facilitating the scam. Police also revealed that the main accused, Rahul Ladhi, died seven months ago.

The case remains under investigation as authorities work to uncover additional details and recover the remaining stolen funds. Cyber ​​police urged the public to remain cautious of investment scams and report suspicious activities to the cyber hotline.