Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Cybercrimes police have apprehended a 50-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh involved in a sophisticated online trading fraud, where he allegedly cheated a victim out of Rs 1.98 crore.

Police arrested Aman Pal Singh. According to police, a complaint was received from a Hyderabad resident who stated that cyber fraudsters contacted him via Facebook. While browsing Facebook, the victim encountered a link related to alleged employees and senior advisors of “Barclays Wealth Management” and “UP Asset Allocation Z06.” These individuals invited the victim to join their purported companies, “Private Wealth Management” and “UPSTOX,” claiming they offered high-quality stock recommendations with significant profit potential.

The victim was subsequently added to a WhatsApp group, where scammers guided him to invest in specific stocks, IPOs, and OTC (Over-The-Counter) stocks, which the victim followed in good faith. The invested amount, along with false profits, was displayed on a fake website. However, the withdrawal feature was later disabled. When the victim attempted to withdraw funds, the fraudsters demanded additional payments under the pretext of taxation and currency conversion charges, assuring him that only after these charges were paid would the invested amount be released. The victim ultimately lost Rs 1,98,25,000.

The cybercrime police stated that Aman Pal Singh procures current bank accounts from his agents in Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi, which are then used in investment frauds. After these bank accounts are utilised in fraudulent activities, he would assemble with account holders and account suppliers at various hotels in Greater Noida, New Delhi, to disburse their share of the money as commission, based on the bank statements.