Pimpri: Residents of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad are being duped every day. 

In the latest incident, 49-year-old businessman from Pimpri Chinchwad has been duped of Rs 1.63 crores to an online share trading scam.

The victim is a resident of Wakad. He has lodged his complaint with Wakad police station on Saturday.

The complainant is into business of private security, the police saidm

As their first act of duping, cyber criminals got in touch with the complainant over mobile phone in June this year. The crook offered him huge profits through online share trading, the cops said.

In their second crooked act, the cyber criminals added the complainant to a WhatsApp group and made him download an online application in the name of a security company on his mobile phone.

Now complainant is convinced all is well. He then starts transferring money from his bank account to various other bank accounts

Police said between June 13 and July 2, the complainant transferred Rs 1.63 crores from his bank accounts to various other bank accounts through multiple online transactions. He wanted the money to be put it online share trading.

When he got no returns on his investment, he filed a police complaint against the cyber fraudsters. 

The crooks have been booked under sections 316 (2), 319 (2), 318 (4), 3 (5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and sections of the Information Technology Act.

There is a lesson for the gullibles. Cyber criminals, police say, target cituzens through social media posts or phone messenger texts. If citizens respond, they are then are added to online groups where they are offered online lessons. The gullible citizens are asked to log in to certain share trading applications designed by cybercriminals. "Here then they get trapped," the police said, warning citizens of such traps of cyber fraudsters."