A 62-year-old man from Thane was allegedly cheated of Rs 82.13 lakh after falling for a fake investment scheme promoted via a Facebook ad. The victim was lured into a WhatsApp group and trading app showing fake profits. Police have registered a case
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A 62-year-old man from Thane has allegedly been cheated of Rs 82.13 lakh in an investment fraud after being promised high returns, police said on Tuesday.
As reported by news agency PTI, the victim came across a Facebook advertisement earlier on September 26, 2025, which promised high returns on share market investments. When he clicked on it, he was redirected to a WhatsApp group named after a leading finance and investment company.
Furthermore, he was then asked to download a trading application and persuaded to make investments.
An official from Kasarvadavali police station, while briefing about the incident, said, “Between January 10 and 30, 2026, the victim transferred Rs 82.13 lakh to various bank accounts. After sending the money, he was shown 'profits' totalling Rs 1.51 crore, as per PTI.
However, on February 2, his request to withdraw the profits was repeatedly rejected, and the fraudsters demanded an additional Rs 42.46 lakh to process the payment.
Soon after, when the victim realised that he was duped, he then contacted the finance company, which confirmed that it had no affiliation with the WhatsApp group or the trading app, the official said.
Based on the victim's complaint, the police registered a case on Sunday against two individuals and some websites and applications under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act.
Victims protest outside Thane police commissioner’s office
Hundreds of investors allegedly cheated in a Rs 1,200 crore investment scam staged a protest outside the police commissioner’s office in Maharashtra’s Thane district, demanding a speedy investigation and recovery of their money, according to the news agency PTI.
Earlier in January, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) arrested three persons from Gujarat in connection with the case, which is suspected to have defrauded more than 11,000 investors, including about 1,500 police personnel, across Maharashtra.
Protesters from Pune, Kolhapur, Jalgaon and Ratnagiri gathered outside the office and blocked its entrance, accusing the authorities of conducting the probe at a snail’s pace, reported news agency PTI.
According to the police, the scam involved approximately 11,000 investors and amounted to Rs 1,200 crore.
The accused, Sameer Narvekar, his wife Neha, and their associate Amit Balam had established Trade with Jazz, an investment company headquartered in Pune, in 2019.
(With inputs from PTI)
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