Surat: A fake trading app that displayed paper profits and promised stock market riches helped fraudsters siphon more than Rs 1.1 crore from a Surat Municipal Corporation employee.Cybercrime police have arrested three Maharashtra residents for the cyberfraud and found that one bank account used was also linked to 29 complaints for fraud, involving Rs 16.13 crore, across multiple states.According to police, the accused lured the victim with promises of high returns from stock market investments and introduced him to a fake application through a file called “Axis.apk”. The app was designed to appear genuine and was used to create purported demat account in the victim’s name.The victim was persuaded to transfer Rs 1,10,90,000 to several bank accounts provided by the fraudsters for share market trading. The application showed the investment generating profits.When the victim tried to withdraw funds, the accused demanded additional payments under various pretexts, including withdrawal charges. Police said the fraudsters initially allowed him to withdraw Rs 5,000 to gain his confidence but blocked access to the remaining Rs 1,10,85,000.An FIR was registered at Cyber Crime police station under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 66(D) of the Information Technology Act.The arrested accused are Rahul Rajak (27), Ashish Sonar (37) and Bhushan Sendane (34), all residents of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.Investigators said Rahul opened a current account in the name of a firm registered by him and handed it over to Ashish for Rs 10,000. Ashish allegedly passed the account to Bhushan for Rs 30,000, and Bhushan handed it over to another absconding accused for Rs 20,000.Investigators found that the bank account allegedly used to defraud the SMC employee had recorded transactions totalling Rs 2.41 crore between Oct 18, 2025, and Jan 9, 2026.A check of the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCCRP) revealed 29 complaints from different states that mentioned the account, involving Rs 16.13 crore defrauded.
