Retired railway officer in Ahmedabad duped of ₹30 lakh in fake stock trading app scam

A 61-year-old retired railway officer from Ahmedabad has complained to the city’s Cyber Cell, alleging that he was duped of ₹30.65 lakh by a group of fraudsters who posed as investment advisors on WhatsApp and tricked him into trading through a fake stock market app.

According to the FIR lodged on October 29, the complainant, Nilesh Kumar Bhatt, a retired officer from the Railway Department, alleged that between March and September 2025, a group of individuals operating a WhatsApp group named '5Paisa V806 Traders Hub' lured him into investing in what appeared to be share trading and IPO schemes.

Bhatt, who resides in Vastrapur, told police that the fraud began when he received a message on July 1, 2025, from a woman identifying herself as 'Tanushree, assistant to Mr Raman', Chief Analyst at 5paisa Securities. She invited him to join a WhatsApp group offering stock market analysis and trading advice.

The group, Bhatt said, was administered by several individuals — identified by mobile numbers linked to persons named Raman, Sandeep and Tanushree — who regularly posted updates claiming that members were making substantial profits through stock trading.

“Daily messages about high returns and quick profits built my confidence,” Bhatt stated in his complaint. He was later guided by one of the members, Sandeep, to download an app called ‘Fivepaisamax’ using a link shared on WhatsApp. The link appeared to be from a legitimate trading platform but was, in fact, a fake website created to mimic a recognised stock trading firm.

Following the registration process, during which Bhatt submitted his Aadhaar details, he began investing through bank transfers into multiple accounts provided by the accused. Between July 31 and September 3, 2025, Bhatt transferred a total of ₹30.65 lakh across seven different transactions. The fraudsters even showed him fake profits within the app at times, reflecting a gain of up to ₹4.45 lakh, to build further trust.

When Bhatt tried to withdraw his money, the accused allegedly demanded a “commission” of ₹5 lakh. After he refused, he was removed from the WhatsApp group and blocked from the application.

Realising he had been defrauded, Bhatt immediately called the national cybercrime helpline (1930) on September 5, and later approached the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Police to file a formal complaint.

The police have registered an FIR under sections related to cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita as well as relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act.

Police officials said they are tracing the bank accounts and phone numbers used in the operation and have also secured digital evidence, including exported WhatsApp chats and a pen drive submitted by the complainant.