A 63-year-old woman from Vadavalli in Coimbatore complained to the cybercrime police that she was defrauded of ₹1.66 crore by unknown fraudsters in an online investment scam.
The police said that the woman saw an advertisement of an online trading firm on Instagram a few months ago. She clicked the link to the firm and later was contacted by strangers via WhatsApp and Telegram. They assured her huge profits for investments in a very short period.
According to the police, the woman invested small sums initially for which she received profits. She later invested ₹1.66 crore in several instalments, which included her husband’s business earnings and family savings. When she tried to withdraw the profit money and the principal amount accrued to her in her digital wallet, the fraudsters demanded more money as tax and processing fees, said the police.
The woman approached the police after she could not retrieve her investments and realised that she had been defrauded.
A police officer said that the investigation into the cheating will be carried out by a cybercrime team in Chennai as the defrauded amount exceeds ₹ 1 crore.