Pune Police have found that many young people, more than 2,500, have been tricked in an online gaming scam. This happened between January and March 2024 and the total money lost is over ₹4.2 crore (which is about $504,000).
The scam took advantage of young people’s love for online games. The scammers advertised on social media, promising big money for winning games. They made it look real by showing tournaments with prizes from ₹50,000 to ₹5 lakh. Victims started by investing small amounts but ended up putting in much more money based on fake winning messages.
Investigators have discovered 47 fake gaming websites that used different names. The scammers were very smart; they used tricks like fake reviews, fake game videos, and even used computers to act like real customer service, which made them seem trustworthy.
Most of the victims were college students, making up 73% of the total, while 27% were young professionals working in IT. On average, each victim lost around ₹1.68 lakh, with some losing as little as ₹25,000 and others losing up to ₹39 lakh. Most of the payments were made using UPI, which makes getting the money back harder.
To fight this, Pune Police have formed a special team and are working with banks and gaming experts to find the stolen money. They’ve also found clues that suggest these scammers are part of a bigger group that works from different countries.
The police are warning schools and companies about this scam and are teaching young people how to spot these fake gaming sites. They’ve found 12 main suspects and have frozen 89 bank accounts that are linked to this scam, securing around ₹72 lakh in suspicious money.
The investigation is ongoing to stop these scams from hurting more young people. The Pune Crime News database shows this is part of a growing trend of cyber fraud cases in the city.
