- A retired banker from Ahmedabad lost over Rs 90 lakh in an online investment scam
- He was misled by a fake ad using industrialists' names on a video-sharing platform
- Scammers posed as investment advisors and promised high returns via a trading app
A retired banker from Ahmedabad lost over Rs 90 lakh to a sophisticated online investment fraud, where he was lured by a deceptive advertisement on a video-sharing platform.
The 73-year-old, who formerly worked with the State Bank of India, came across an investment opportunity in November 2025 which wrongly used the names of well-known industrialists to project authenticity, prompting him to click on the embedded link. This action directed him to download a trading application named Ventra Trade, initiating a multi-month ordeal that eventually stripped him of his life savings.
Following the application setup, the elderly man was contacted on WhatsApp by individuals posing as professional investment advisors and portfolio managers. They promised exceptionally high returns through stock market investments and commodity trading.
To gain the retired banker's trust, the scammers initially credited Rs 21,999 into his account as profit from his early investments. Encouraged by this success and the fabricated gains displayed on the application's interface, the victim transferred large sums of money via Real Time Gross Settlement between November 2025 and April 2026.
The fraud came to light when the victim attempted to withdraw his accumulated funds. The fraudsters blocked the request, claiming that his trading account had been frozen due to regulatory issues. They subsequently demanded additional payments under the guise of taxes and processing charges to unlock the funds.
Over a span of seven months, the retired banker transferred a total of Rs 90.75 lakh before realising that the entire investment platform was a fabricated setup.
Following his complaint, the Cyber Crime Police registered a First Information Report and initiated a detailed investigation to trace the fraudulent bank accounts and the digital footprints of the scammers.
