Mumbai Police's Cyber Cell has arrested Hiren Kumar Barwalia from Surat, Gujarat, for allegedly duping a 72-year-old man of ₹1 crore under the pretext of promising high returns on share investments. Barwalia, a habitual offender in online scams, has over 11 fraud and IT-related cases registered against him across various cities, police said.
The elderly victim, a retired employee of a shipping company, resides in a housing society in Andheri. On April 22, 2024, he received a WhatsApp message from an unknown individual, promising lucrative returns on investments in shares. The victim was added to a WhatsApp group where success stories of investments were repeatedly shared to lure members. Convinced by the apparent profits shared in the group, he decided to invest. Between April 22 and June 18, 2024, the victim transferred ₹1.01 crore across various share investments.
Initially, the returns seemed promising, prompting the victim to attempt withdrawing a portion of the funds. However, the group admin demanded additional payments under the pretext of taxes and processing fees, claiming the funds wouldn’t be released otherwise. Despite transferring the demanded amounts, the victim neither received his returns nor his principal amount. Following repeated evasive responses, the victim was removed from the group, and the scam app was deactivated.
Realizing the fraud, the elderly man lodged a complaint with the Cyber Cell. During the investigation, the police filed a case under various sections of the IT Act and began tracing the accused. This led to the arrest of Hiren Kumar Barwalia in Surat.
Police revealed that Barwalia is a seasoned cybercriminal with a record of providing bank accounts to scam syndicates. Investigations revealed that the gang had orchestrated multiple high-value scams, defrauding people in the guise of share investments.
Authorities suspect that this gang has cheated individuals across India, amassing crores through sophisticated online fraud schemes. Further investigations are underway to identify other members of the gang and recover the defrauded amounts.