In a major success for Ludhiana Police, an online trading app fraud worth cores of rupees was busted. Ludhiana's Commissioner of Police, Mandeep Singh Sidhu addressed a press conference and informed that while working on a complaint, the Cyber Cell of Ludhiana gathered the technical details regarding this financial fraud which led to the unearthing of a big scam that was being done by the accused in the name of online trading through their customized 'fraudulent app' called V-Trade.
Ludhiana's Commissioner of Police Mandeep Sidhu also revealed the modus operandi of the fraudulent trading app saying that the accused used to entice the victims of huge and quick profits through online trading. They used to send them the links of their app and provide an ID and password. The links were shared through WhatsApp. For payments, the V trade used to k for two cheques from each customer before providing them an ID and password for using the app. The Ludhiana Police stated that this was the first red flag that showcased the intention to cheat. As soon as the cash was received, a similar amount of money or dummy figures were shown in the account of the app, however, in reality, there was no trading done in any exchange.
Notably, the victim was made to believe that he is earning good by trading through the app. However, when the victim asked for his return, his ID and password were changed by the accused. Later, the V trade members blackmailed the customers asking for more payments or else he would be used against them. In this manner, the accused duped the complainant for Rs 15 Lakhs. In a similar manner, their fraud actually tunes to crores of rupees.
Interestingly, the fraud which was busted by Ludhiana Police sounds like the Bernie Madoff scam which is considered the biggest financial fraud in American history. Madoff was famous for using Ponzi schemes and he also used to show people (investors) are making profits by showing fake numbers.
Coming back to the Ludhiana trading app scam, 3 has been arrested while 2 are yet to be arrested. The arrested accused in the FIR named- Anil Jai, a resident of Ludhiana, and mastermind, Karmjit Kaur- an Assistant of the mastermind and does marketing. Call customers to download the app and provides fake tips for investment, Sunny Kumar- Also takes cash from customers and does fraudulent trade on the V trade platform.
List of items recovered by the Ludhiana Police-
1. Cash - Rs 40.62 lakhs,
2. Amount freezed in Bank accounts - Rs 30.80 lakhs
3. Laptops - 5
4. Desktops- 6
5. Mobile phones- 7
6. several Record registers
7. Several Property documents
8. 62 gold and diamond articles
Meet Hayer hands over appointment letters to 68 clerks of Water Resources Department
9. 135 Cheques worth Amount Rs 3.01 cr
10. One Mercedes & one Ciaz.
11. 2 cash counting machines
How the Ludhiana Police busted V Trade fraud?
1) The Cyber cell team obtained information about the app namely V-Trade. It was found that this app falls in the category of 'entertainment' on the App Store and is meant for students for training purpose.
2) Information regarding the various entities was sought from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).It was found that no registration with SEBI of this app and its developer exists.
3)The transactions shown to customers on the app V-trade were got verified by the exchanges and they were found to be fraudulent. The exchanges also replied that they neither have any V-trade, PVGlobal LLP, etc as their member broker nor their individual members.
4) It was found that mostly the payments from the victims were taken in cash.
5) Screenshots of the chats between the accused and the victims were taken on record.
6) Antecedents of the criminals were checked and it was found that they have previous criminal history and have FIR no. 310/21 PS Salem Tabri u/s 341, 506,148,149 IPC ,25,27 Arms Act and FIR no.5/22 PS Div no.5 u/s 420, 120-B IPC ,52-A,68A Copyright Act