Pune: Eight Held In ₹22 Crore Online Trading Scam Targeting Elderly Resident
Pune: Eight Held In ₹22 Crore Online Trading Scam Targeting Elderly Resident
Pune, February 12, 2026: The Cyber Cell of Pune city police has arrested eight individuals for allegedly duping an 85-year-old man of ₹22.03 crore in a fake online share trading scheme, officials said on Wednesday.
According to police, the fraud was carried out between October 25, 2025 and January 17, 2026, in the Magarpatta area of Hadapsar. A case was registered at the Cyber Police Station on January 19 under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Section 66(D) of the Information Technology Act.
Investigators said the accused approached the elderly victim with promises of high returns through stock market investments. After gaining his trust, they added him to a WhatsApp group and persuaded him to install a bogus investment application. The app allegedly displayed fake profits to encourage further investments.
Believing the returns to be genuine, the victim transferred funds into seven different bank accounts provided by the fraudsters. In total, ₹22.03 crore was siphoned off. Neither the promised profits nor the invested amount was returned.
The probe, led by Police Inspector Swapnali Shinde, traced the money trail using technical analysis. Authorities identified ₹1 crore parked in a Yes Bank account in Ambernath, ₹1.9 lakh routed from Axis Bank to a Bank of Maharashtra account in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, and additional amounts of ₹2.20 lakh and ₹1 lakh in other Bank of Maharashtra accounts.
Those arrested include Munil Surendrasinh (51) from Ambernath and Akash Marathe (27), Lala Umap (26), and Parmeshwar Dabhade (23) from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. Police said Umap and Dabhade allegedly handed over their bank account kits to Sahil Shivsudar (22), who was also taken into custody.
Further investigation and digital tracking led to the arrest of Vishwajeet Khandare. His Jan Dhan account details were allegedly shared with Abhijit Nade (21) and Dishant Kambale (22), who were also apprehended.
All the accused have been produced before a court and remanded to police custody. So far, authorities have frozen ₹3.24 crore linked to the scam.
Police said efforts are ongoing to trace additional bank accounts and identify other members of the fraud network.
