Cyber Fraud Havoc in Ghaziabad: Resident Duped of Rs 92.95 Lakh in Fake Share Trading

• by Akanksha Mishra
• 2026-10-21 17:24:00

Cyber criminals have unleashed a dual wave of high-stakes financial swindles across prominent residential hubs in Ghaziabad, siphoning off more than Rs 93 lakh from unsuspecting citizens using elaborate online share market traps and deceptive utility bill phishing. In the biggest hit reported under the Kavinagar police station limits, a seasoned stock investor from upscale Rajnagar was systematically manipulated into transferring a massive Rs 92.95 lakh after clicking an enticing investment advertisement on social media. Simultaneously, another resident living in the high-density township of Crossings Republik fell prey to a remote-access malware trap, losing Rs 67,000 within seconds of installing a fraudulent Android Application Package (APK) file sent under the guise of an Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) service verification. Local law enforcement wings have registered formal criminal cases and initiated digital forensic probes to track the fraudulent banking trails.

The Rs 92.95 Lakh Investment Trap: How Social Media Ads Led to Massive Financial Drain

The largest hit targeted Mahendra Gupta, an active stock trader residing in Rajnagar, who was lured into an unauthorized third-party trading network:

Bait on Social Media: The ordeal began when the victim stumbled upon a sponsored Facebook advertisement promising extraordinary returns on equity trading. Clicking the link redirected him to a chat interface managed by a female handler, who swiftly enrolled him into an exclusive WhatsApp investment group.

Psychological Grooming and Fake Accounts: Winning Gupta's trust through fabricated trading gains and professional jargon, the scam operators instructed him to open a secondary trading demat account, leading him to set up a profile in his wife's name on a fraudulent portal designed to simulate authentic institutional trades.

Massive Multi-Account Drain: Believing the mock portfolio balances displayed on the screen, the victim was persuaded to execute multiple outward capital transfers between September 2 and September 23. In total, Gupta transferred Rs 92.95 lakh across 15 separate mule bank accounts before realizing he could not withdraw any funds, prompting an immediate complaint with the Ghaziabad Cyber Crime Police Station.

Deceptive Utility Phishing in Crossings Republik: Malicious APK Drains Bank Account

In a separate cyber attack targeting basic household utilities, Crossing Republik resident Naveen Anand was defrauded using unauthorized phone takeover tools:

Fake Disconnection Alert: On August 30 around 1:30 PM, Anand received an urgent SMS notification warning that his domestic piped natural gas connection from IGL would be disconnected immediately due to pending verification issues.

The Malicious APK Delivery: Panicked by the threat of service disruption, the resident dialed the support contact number displayed in the text message. The impostor on the call, masquerading as an authorized IGL customer care executive, forwarded an APK file directly over WhatsApp, instructing Anand to install it to verify his customer account.

Instantaneous Account Siphoning: As soon as the victim downloaded and granted installation permissions to the third-party file, the embedded spyware gained control over his phone's SMS and notification permissions. Without Anand's explicit authorization or OTP confirmations, the hackers initiated two back-to-back unauthorized fund withdrawals—the first for Rs 57,000 and the second for Rs 10,000—prompting a formal FIR at the Crossing Republik police station.

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