According to police, Sarkar and his 27-year-old son, both cancer patients, wanted to fund their medical bills and retirement living expenses by investing in stocks, but they were not surprised by a group claiming to provide tips on well-performing stocks on Telegram. And the person who suggested cheating.
Being lured to move to “Institutional Trading Platform Zoksa”
Sarkar claimed that he used to invest regularly in stocks through his Demat account and his income was good till last year. “In December last year, I found a link on Facebook inviting people to attend a free online course on stock trading. I attended the course to learn something new and then the organizer added me to the WhatsApp group. I even got a ticket to attend certificate for the course, but later I realized it was fake,” Sarkar said.
“The organizer of the webinar added me to a WhatsApp group where I can get advice on stocks that are performing well in the market. I also saw other members sharing their experiences in the group. The organizer quickly said that if We will make more profits by investing through the institutional trading platform." Subsequently, the organizers launched the institutional trading platform 'Zoksa'.
Unable to extract! Defrauded of about 20 lakh rupees
“They suggested that we should sell all the policies and stocks we invested in and invest through Zoksa…. My Zoksa account at that time showed that my money was invested in US stocks and the investment amount had reached Rs 10 million. So, I continued to invest through Zoksa. The company invested but, when I tried to withdraw the money, I was unable to withdraw it," said Sarkar.
When Sarkar raised the issue, he was given Rs 10,000 to reassure him and said he could withdraw the full amount only after paying the tax, which was Rs 1.3 million first. This made Sarkar suspicious, "Why should I pay them tax first and then withdraw the money. When I tried to contact other members of the Telegram group, I found that most of the numbers were contacts of international call centers." Sarkar He said he lost around Rs 20 lakh, which was his entire savings, between January 16 and 28.
“We have received the complaint (from Sarkar) and are investigating. However, we must tell people that no established company will ask them to invest through platforms like Telegram or Whatsapp. Also, they should not reply to messages from unknown numbers. If someone suddenly adds you to an unknown WhatsApp or Telegram group, leave immediately,” said a Kolkata Police official.
