you should submit all the details you collected to the police
2) police would conduct investigations
3) they can freeze bank accounts of culprits
Online financial fraud involving malicious application and fake WhatsApp groups
I, Kathir, was a member of a WhatsApp group named "D01 - Alankit Limited Securities Stock Learning Group" and was lured to install an Android application claiming to provide VIP Account trading services. I deposited a total of Rs. 227,000 for Prime stocks. On 30th August 2024, after the last transaction, the WhatsApp group was deleted, and I was unable to withdraw my money. Realizing I was cheated, I immediately reported the incident to the Cyber Crime Cell and provided all the valid transaction documents. This report was acknowledged with the number & Subsequently, I submitted all the documents with a written complaint to the Whitefield police station, where an FIR was registered in Bangalore Cyber Crime Police Station. Further Developments: (self Investigation) After the initial complaint, I was contacted again by one of the group admins and invited to join another WhatsApp group, "D02 - Alankit Limited Securities Stock Learning Group." I joined this group with the intention of gathering further evidence, noting down the members and other details related to the fraudulent activities. The malicious application used for this scam was still on my mobile phone. I used it as the starting point for further investigation and employed various tools to collect data, which allowed me to identify their domain name, server certificate, and IP addresses where the application is hosted. Communication with Amazon AWS Security Team: To ensure the malicious activities of this group were reported to the proper authorities, I sent multiple emails to Amazon AWS's Security Team & reported the domain & IP details to Amazon AWS. Now, the questions are: 1. What should i do next? 2. What will be the action from Police Side? 3. Will they Freeze the Bank Account to where i have transferred the money? 4. Should i provide all the details which i have collected to the Inspector ? Please guide me. As usually people say, if money is lost on cyber crime, you will never get it back, here in my case i have transferred the money using IMPS on 8 transactions to 4 bank accounts. I assume this would be valid to trace them but i am not sure of the legal difficulties / practicality. Thanking you all in advance, Experts advice would be greatly appreciated.
Asked 4 months ago in Criminal Law
Religion: Hindu
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4 Answers
You have already lodged a criminal complaint against the said persons or group and the cyber crime police are into action.
While so, whatever reason you may cite, but the acts of yours by joining the same group in another whatsapp group may show you in a bad light because on one side you have given a complaint against them and on the other side you have joined hands with the same group again, that too without informing your intention to do so to the police.
However when you participate the investigation with the police you may better all the details you collected against them and wait for the police to take suitable action as per law.
The decision to freeze their account is the discretion of the police
1. You can also lodge a complaint before the Economic Offence Wing after giving all the details
2. Police will investigate the case after getting proper information from you.
3. Yes,
4. Yes,
Dear Client,
Keep on working with the Cyber Crime Cell and police to submit all the findings such as the transactions, details on the malicious application, and communication with the group admins. They will probably investigate according to your FIR, possibly contacting the banks that have been involved. They may also ask the respective accounts that you transfer the money to be frozen if they have enough evidence of fraud. Give all the found information to the investigating officer, including technical information pointing to such things as domain names and the IP addresses since they help in tracking the culprits. These are the Information Technology Act of the year 2000 and sections 420IPC and other sections that deals with computer related crimes. Be consistent in contacting the police and possibly seek advice from a cybercrime attorney concerning your rights and the chances of reimbursement of lost funds.
Hope you find this answer beneficial for resolving the dispute.
