Pramesh S Jain
An 80-year-old resident of Cox Town has fallen victim to a massive cyber fraud,losing over ₹2.51 crore to scammers posing as bank officials.
The victim,a 80-year-old filed a complaint with the East Division Cyber Crime Police on Saturday,stating that unidentified fraudsters impersonating officials of Kotak Mahindra Bank lured him into investing in fake stock market schemes.
According to the complaint,the fraud began in January 2026 when victim clicked on a Facebook advertisement promoting stock tips and block trading in Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), falsely claiming association with Kotak Bank and its securities wing.
After submitting his personal details through a link,he was contacted by a woman identifying herself as “Anvika Mehra,”along with several accomplices operating through multiple phone numbers.
The accused persuaded him to invest through two mobile applications( KOTMOT” and “KOTPRO”) available on the Play Store.
Over time,the apps displayed fabricated profits,showing his investment of ₹2.51 crore had nearly doubled to ₹5 crore.
The scammers then pressured him to deposit an additional ₹3 crore to secure an alleged IPO allotment, which later turned out to be fraudulent.
Despite attempting to contact customer support numbers provided within a WhatsApp group posing as Kotak Securities support, the victim received no legitimate assistance.
Police said the victim carried out 23 transactions amounting to ₹2.5 crore from his ( ICICI )Bank account between February 23 and March 24, 2026.
Additionally,he transferred ₹1.7 lakh in two transactions from his State Bank of India account earlier in March.All funds were routed to multiple bank accounts controlled by the fraudsters.
Realizing he had been cheated,the victim approached the cyber crime police,who have registered a case against unknown persons under Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act,along with Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
An investigation is underway to trace the accused and recover the defrauded amount.
Police have once again urged the public to exercise caution while responding to online investment offers, especially those promising unusually high returns or requiring transactions through unverified mobile applications.
