In yet another alarming cyber fraud, two Bengaluru residents have collectively lost over ₹2.15 crore to sophisticated investment scams run through counterfeit trading websites and coordinated WhatsApp groups, Deccan Herald reported.

According to police, the victims were lured by orchestrated social media interactions and convincing fake dashboards that simulated live stock market returns.

In the first case, a 48-year-old businessman from Visvesvaraya Layout connected with a woman on Facebook who claimed to be Ashmita Tiwari, allegedly a manager at Barclays Investment Bank in Mumbai. She directed him to a fraudulent investment portal and added him to a WhatsApp group named “CATALIST CUSTOMER SERVICE,” populated by fake investors sharing screenshots of purported profits.

Over three months, he transferred ₹1.54 crore, convinced his investments were growing. The deception unraveled when he tried to withdraw the money and was abruptly locked out.

In a separate incident, a 30-year-old engineer from Vijayanagar, Randeep S, joined a different group called “India Stock HUB12.” He was coaxed into trading via a counterfeit platform impersonating Citadel Securities. To build credibility, he initially received ₹90,000 on an early ₹3.5 lakh investment. Encouraged, he eventually sent ₹61.3 lakh before discovering he’d been conned.

The West CEN Cyber Crime police have registered two FIRs and are tracing the bank accounts where the money was siphoned. Investigators suspect these schemes are part of an organized network leveraging fake identities, cloned websites, and social engineering to target unsuspecting investors.