The Cyber Crime Cell of the Central Crime Branch on Wednesday, busted a major online scam in which more than 100 people had invested their money through websites run by scamsters, who were pretending to conduct foreign exchange trades. Police arrested two young men in connection with the case.
The Cyber Crime Police said that on January 21 last year, M. Ashok Kumar, who is an electrician in Thiruverkadu, lodged a complaint with the office of the Commissioner of Police, alleging that two unknown persons had approached him over the phone on an international call, and introduced themselves as directors of Deltin International Solutions ( www.deltinfx.com and www.deltininternationalsolutions.com ), a foreign exchange company with its branches in various countries. They lured Ashok Kumar into investing in Deltin International Foreign Exchange in order to earn high profits. Trusting the callers who claimed to be directors of the foreign exchange firm, the complainant Ashok Kumar had transferred ₹10.54 lakh to the website’s account through 11 transactions between October 17, 2019 and January 3, 2020. Later, Ashok Kumar realised that he had been cheated by the duo and went to the police. On his complaint, the Cyber Crime Cell registered a case and took it up for investigation.
Syed Ali Hussain, one of the accused
Investigators zeroed in on Syed Abu Thahir and Syed Ali Hussain, who admitted to creating the fake websites ( www.deltinfx.com and www.deltininternationalsolutions.com ). They used voice over internet protocol (VoIP) calls for contacting victims and made false promise of high returns. The duo were arrested and remanded to judicial custody. Police also seized ₹1.95 lakh and five mobile phones from them.
Police sources said the scamsters had been operating for more than one-and-a-half years from Chennai. Taking advantage of the situation during lockdown, they lured many to invest into their companies on the pretext of fetching high returns on their investments. Investigations revealed that hundreds of victims across India have been cheated by the company.
The Chennai Cyber Crime Cell Police have advised the public to be cautious while carrying out forex trading.
