Forex fraud cases have been on a steady rise over the years. The recent arrest of two suspects by India Police is seen as a crackdown to bring down multiple foreign exchange scams across the country.

The announcement of the arrest was made by Indian Police on Friday 27. The two suspects, Syed Ali Hussain from Chidambaram and Syed Abu Thahir from Teynampet, are the masterminds behind the scheme that defrauded hundreds of victims of over $1.7 million. The two had created two websites namely www.deltinfx.com and www.deltiniternationalsolutions.com. During the interrogation, the two suspects admitted to using Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) to call the unsuspecting victims and lure them to the scheme by promising them huge returns.

The bust was made by the Cyber Crime Cell of the Central Crime Branch, who received a tip from Ashok Kumar, an electrician from Thiruverkadu. On his statement, Ashok stated that he was approached by the two suspects via a phone call. The two introduced themselves as directors of an international Forex company that operated in different countries.

Ashok transferred 10.54 lakhs to the company website after he was promised huge returns. He made 11 transactions with the website from October 2019 to January 2020. After Ashok realized that he had been swindles, he went and lodged a complaint with the police.

How did they lure victims?

The two scammers lured people to invest in their company by promising them heavy returns on Forex trading. To make the deal sweeter, they stated that the returns would be realized after a short time. However, when the two received the money from investors, they did not invest in the Forex market but rather transferred the money into their personal bank accounts. The two would use the proceeds to pay for their personal expenses and to make payments to another Ponzi-scheme.

Vinothkumar, an inspector of the Central Crime Branch, stated that the company’s website was where the victims deposited their money. Through the website, investors were shown the ‘fake’ shares that they had invested in as well as returns gained from the shares. As directors of the dubious company, the two instilled investor confidence by highlighting their experience in share and Forex trading. The two operated the scam for over eighteen months.

The Takeaway

After the arrest, the Chennai Cyber Crime Cell Police advised the public against using unverified companies for Forex trading. As a way of exercising caution, the public is advised to conduct due diligence before investing their hard-earned money on schemes promising huge returns.