HYDERABAD: Two persons, including a director of a private company promoted by a Singapore national, were nabbed by Rachakonda police in Mumbai for cheating gullible persons on the pretext of gold trading.
They were brought to Hyderabad and formally arrested on Thursday.
Rachakonda police said Mayur Sharad Hadkar, the director of a private company in Mumbai, and G Vinod Sharma, an employee of the company, were arrested.
After their arrest, police froze Rs 12 lakhs belonging to the accused in different bank accounts.
A victim from the city approached police claiming that he was contacted by some persons over the phone and they explained about the virtual gold trading, promising high returns.
By believing their scheme, he invested Rs 8.50 lakhs.
During the investigation, police came to know that Philip Chan, a Singapore national, and C Vijay of Mumbai started three different companies in Mumbai and Gujarat offering gold buying and selling schemes.
Mayur was appointed director of one of the three companies, whereas Vinod was an employee of the other company.
Prime accused Philip started different websites and his associates in India used to manage it by contacting the prospective victims over the phone and WhatsApp offering to invest in gold and silver trading.
“When the victims show interest to invest in the funds, the accused provided a user ID, password and web links of their websites.
Once the victim login and purchase the virtual gold coins/bars by deposing money into accounts provided on the website, initially they were shown some virtual profits on the investment.
When the victim tried to withdraw money, the withdraw option was removed and the victims were cheated,’’ Rachakonda police said.