A 32-year-old software engineer from Wakad, Pune, lost around ₹50 lakhs ($60,000) in an online trading scam. This happened between January 15 and February 28, 2024, when he was tricked by a fake mobile trading app.

The engineer got a message on WhatsApp that promised high returns from cryptocurrency trading. The scammers showed him small profits to gain his trust, which made him invest more money using their special app.

Police found out that these scammers were hiding behind fake companies and used clever tricks to fool people. The app showed fake profits to make the victim keep investing. Meanwhile, they moved the real money through different cryptocurrency wallets to hide where it was going.

The cyber crime team discovered that the victim made many transactions totaling ₹91.41 lakhs ($110,000) in just six weeks. But when he tried to take out his money, the app stopped working, and the phone numbers of the scammers were no longer active.

This situation shows how important it's to be careful about scams, especially online. The Pune Cyber Crime Cell reported a 47% increase in cryptocurrency fraud cases in the last year, with many educated people being tricked. They advise everyone to check trading platforms and not invest based on random messages.

The police are also connecting this case to similar scams in Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi, indicating that there's a big group of criminals targeting tech workers in big cities.

They've frozen some scam-related accounts and are working with international police to find the stolen money.