Elderly man loses Rs 5 lakh in online shares investment fraud

Thane, Jan 7 (PTI) A 73-year-old man in Maharashtra's Thane city has allegedly been cheated of Rs 5.11 lakh by cyber fraudsters who lured him to invest in international share markets, police said on Wednesday.

According to the police, some individuals contacted the victim between October and November 2025 through mobile numbers that began with the international code +44, an official said.

The accused convinced the elderly man to invest in international share markets by promising high returns.

"They provided him with links to certain websites and guided him to open accounts on these platforms. Acting on their instructions, the man invested Rs 5,11,188 over a period of time," the official said.

However, when the victim later attempted to withdraw his returns and the invested amount, he received no response from the accused.

Based on the victim's complaint on Monday, the Naupada police registered a case against five suspects under Section 318(4) (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act, the official said.

"A probe into the case is underway. We are analysing call details, bank transactions and the websites used in the fraud to trace the accused. No arrests have been made so far," he added. PTI COR GK