Pune senior citizen loses ₹1.68 crore in new ‘global contest’ share-trading scam

A 78-year-old retired bank manager from Pune has lost ₹1.68 crore to a sophisticated new share-trading fraud that used a fake international competition to trap victims. The Cyber Crime Police Station of Pune City has registered an FIR in the case.

According to the complaint, the Kothrud resident, who had been investing through a well-known and legitimate trading platform, received a link earlier this year. After clicking on it, he got a call from a woman posing as an executive of a finance company.

She claimed that her company’s head was participating in a “global competition on economic excellence,” supposedly featuring contestants from the US, UK, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Germany and Japan. She told him that the prize money—USD 50,000—would be shared among online voters, and that this money would later be used for trading on a “promising platform” run by their company.

The complainant was directed to participate in a fake online voting process. When their “company head” was declared the winner, he was told that he had earned a share of the prize. He soon received ₹13,000 and was instructed to invest it on what turned out to be a fraudulent trading platform.

Believing the process to be genuine, the retired manager shifted from his legitimate trading app to the fake one. Over the next month, the scammers gave him trading tips and manipulated him into making 23 large bank transfers to multiple mule accounts, amounting to a total loss of ₹1.68 crore.

On the fraudulent app, his so-called earnings were displayed as ₹13.89 crore. But when he tried to withdraw the amount, the fraudsters demanded an additional ₹76 lakh as “tax.” Realising he was being cheated, the victim approached the Cyber Crime Police.

According to an investigating officer, this emerging modus operandi is designed to appear credible by using staged voting links, fabricated lists of global participants, and fake prize announcements. “By exploiting trust and curiosity, the fraudsters convince victims that they are part of an exclusive financial opportunity. Multiple cases of this method are now being reported,” the officer said.

Police have urged the public not to click on suspicious links, avoid responding to unknown callers claiming to represent financial firms, and verify all trading platforms through official channels.