Scam Alert: IIM-Ahmedabad Employee Falls Victim to Rs 50 Lakh Fake IPO Fraud

A 49-year-old man was having his usual evening tea while scrolling through Facebook in February when he noticed an interesting link. As a manager at the prestigious Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, he considered himself smart with money.

The link directed him to a WhatsApp group called “E-28 ASK Capital Circle.” The group appeared somewhat professional; the administrators claimed to be financial professionals and, after all, they were sharing market recommendations. They regularly shared stock market tips and had success stories that made everything seem easy and enjoyable. He followed the group for about three weeks and became interested in the trading app mapped out by the group called “ASKICPRO.”

Being naturally cautious, he decided to test the waters with a small amount. On March 19, he invested Rs 25,000 in a company called “CLARA Industries Ltd”. The group administrators encouraged him to sell quickly; the next day his app wallet showed Rs 28,800. He had made Rs 3,800 in just one day! This initial success made them feel confident about the platform.

Encouraged by early successes, he kept putting in money. The app always flashed profits for him, and by March 27th, his wallet boasted a respectable Rs 5 lakh. He felt like he had struck a gold mine and trusted the group administrators wholeheartedly.

Then they provided what appeared to be an opportunity of a lifetime. They had information about an IPO of a company called “Informative Solution SME” coming up and they indicated there would be big dividends. They even emailed him what appeared to be an allotment letter that made the scam appear legitimate. However, to participate in this IPO, he needed to deposit over Rs 42 lakh.

When he hesitated about such a large amount, the scammers sweetened the deal. They promised them an Rs 18 lakh loan, but he would need to pay Rs 20 lakh upfront as a processing fee. Though his concerns were understandably growing, all this promise of much bigger profits was blinding him from logic. He had, up until this point, sent nearly the entire Rs 42 lakh over the course of several transactions to the scammers.

After that, scammers demanded more money. They claimed they needed to pay an additional Rs 15 lakh for something called “capital verification”. By this point, he had already invested too much to back out. Hoping to recover all his money and finally see the promised profits, he paid another Rs 10 lakh.

The reality hit them like a truck when he tried to withdraw Rs 45 lakh from his account. The app simply wouldn’t allow the transaction. When he contacted the group administrators for help, they suddenly became unresponsive. Soon after, his account was blocked, he was removed from the WhatsApp group, and his phone number was blacklisted by the scammers.

Realizing he had been duped, the victim, who lived in the Chandkheda area of Ahmedabad, immediately filed a complaint with the Ahmedabad Cybercrime police. The authorities have now launched a full investigation into this elaborate scam that cost an educated professional their life savings.