Youth Duped of ₹19.75 Lakh in Investment Scam in Vadodara

Another incident of online investment fraud has come to light in Vadodara, where a young energy consultant was tricked into transferring ₹19.75 lakh to a scammer under the pretense of stock market investment.

Vijaybhai Mishra, a resident of Asha Lata Society on Ajwa Road, lodged a complaint with the police stating that he came across a YouTube channel named Alpha Trader University, operated by a person named Umar Punjabi. While watching investment-related videos on the channel, he clicked a link that redirected him to a page for Alpha Traders.

Joined Discord via Paid Registration

One of the videos offered a course to learn stock market trading and provided a link for registration, charging ₹4,999. Upon making the payment, Vijaybhai was added to a Discord community where investment-related messages were regularly shared.

Multiple Platforms, Repeated Transactions

The very next day, he was directed to an investment platform where he was asked to make transactions. After completing two transactions, he was told that the original site had been shut down due to maintenance, and he was provided a new platform. On this new platform, after adding his old account details, all previous data and profits were visible—creating a sense of trust.

Total Transfer of ₹19.75 Lakh

Convinced by the setup, Vijaybhai ended up transferring a total of ₹19.75 lakh over a period of time. However, when he tried to withdraw the amount, he was told to pay a 10% withdrawal fee. This raised suspicions, prompting him to file a complaint with the Cyber Cell.

The case is under investigation, and authorities are warning citizens to stay cautious of investment offers made through unverified online sources.