37-year-old Hyderabad man loses Rs 3 crore in IPO fraud

HYDERABAD: A 37-year-old private worker from Asif Nagar fell victim to a stock market investment fraud, losing 2.8 crore in a fake Initial Public Offering (IPO) scheme.
The victim alleged that he was lured through a Facebook advertisement offering early access to an IPO. When he clicked on the link, he was directed to a webpage operated by the fraudsters, who then added him to a WhatsApp group where regular discussions about IPOs took place.

The scammers, including a person identifying herself as 'Priya', convinced the victim to make multiple transactions between March 7 and April 21, 2025, through their app, ASKMIN, towards investment in IPOs. "To gain him trust, the scammers initially transferred 4.9 lakh to the victim's account as profits, prompting him to invest larger sums," an official said.

When the victim requested the withdrawal of his investments, the fraudsters demanded an additional 15% as a "processing fee".
"The scammers showed me a false balance of 32.3 crore on their ASKMIN app but prevented any withdrawals," the victim said.
As the offenders kept asking for additional money to enable the withdrawal, the victim approached the police on Friday.
On a complaint lodged by the victim, Hyderabad Cyber Crime police registered a case under Sections 66-C, 66-D of the IT Act, Sections 318(4) (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 319(2) (cheating by personation), 336(3) (forgery for purpose of cheating), 338 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), 340(2) (forged document or electronic record and using it as genuine), 111(2)(b) (organised crime) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on Friday.