Hyderabad man duped of Rs 43 lakh in fake Axis Bank IPO scam

A 63-year-old Hyderabad resident lost Rs 43 lakh after fraudsters lured him with a fake Axis Bank IPO offer on WhatsApp. Police arrested one suspect, linked to 19 cases nationwide, for supplying bank accounts to the fraud network

Hyderabad: A 63-year-old man from the city lost Rs 43 lakh to fraudsters who duped him on the pretext of an initial public offering (IPO) of Axis Bank.

According to the police, the victim had received a WhatsApp message from ‘Axis Security’, an account created by fraudsters. Assuming it to be a genuine message from Axis Bank offering IPO allotments and trading opportunities, he invested Rs 43 lakh between July and August.

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“The fraudsters regularly showed the man fake profits and allotted discounted shares of listed companies after market hours, claiming it was a QIP quota in IPOs. They even allotted more shares than his available balance and forced him to pay an additional amount,” the police said.

The fraudsters threatened to freeze his accounts if he failed to pay the extra amount.

The man later realised that the entity had no connection with Axis Bank and approached the police.

A case was registered, and during investigation, the police nabbed a suspect, Bobbari Srinivasa Rao (34), a resident of Parvada mandal in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, who had supplied bank accounts to fraudsters a few months ago.

The police said Srinivasa Rao was involved in 19 cases across the country, including two in Telangana.