A 37-year-old software professional from Serilingampally lost Rs 27.63 lakh after falling for an online investment scam that began with a Facebook advertisement featuring Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The woman saw the advertisement on June 10, 2026, and believed it was genuine. She received a call from another country and paid Rs 16,023 to register. She was later added to a WhatsApp group named “socialventure-capitalist.com”, which appeared to be an investment platform.
A man identifying himself as Senior Financial Consultant Priyanshu Singh contacted her from +44 7836 252193 and guided her through the website. On June 16, she withdrew $7 and received Rs 661.77 in her bank account, strengthening her belief that the platform was legitimate.
Singh then asked her to invest Rs 1,00,000 to begin trading. The website showed large profits and indicated that she could withdraw $71,000. However, when she attempted to withdraw the money on June 26, the payment did not arrive.
Instead, she received fake documents appearing to be from Barclays Bank and was told to pay a “CAPITAL GATEWAY TAX” of Rs 9,00,000.
Between June 30 and July 8, she transferred Rs 8,00,000 to different bank accounts as instructed by Singh.
Another person, Vishal Mishra, claimed to be Head of Finance and sent a fake “BARCLAYS DECLARATION FORM”. He asked for a refundable deposit of Rs 8,47,000, which she paid on July 13 after sharing copies of her Aadhaar and PAN cards.
Mishra later claimed JP Morgan required Rs 10,00,000 as a currency conversion fee. Singh and Mishra told her during a group call that this was the final payment. She paid on July 20.
She was then contacted by a person claiming to be Rohit Mahajan from Barclays Bank in the Netherlands, who initially demanded Rs 8,00,000 for “fund insurance” and later reduced it to Rs 6,00,000.
The victim eventually realized she had been scammed and contacted the National Cyber Crime Helpline at 1930. Between June 10 and July 20, she had transferred Rs 27,63,023 and received only Rs 661 back. Cybercrime police registered an FIR under cybercrime and BNS.
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