An Indian man was just recently scammed by a fake online gaming platform that stole a whopping Rs 58 crore (roughly around $7 million) from him. The victim is a businessman based in Nagpur who was robbed by a person posing as a ‘bookie’ that has been identified as Anant, alias Sontu Navratan Jain.

Online Gaming Fraud: How did the scammers pull it off?

He was approached by Jain who managed to convince him to venture into online gambling. The scammer made promises of a lucrative investment and an easy way to make money. While the businessman was initially reluctant, he eventually gave in to the scammer and transferred Rs 8 lakhs to him. Following this, he received a link on WhatsApp that took him to an online gambling account that showed a balance of Rs 8 lakhs, which he had previously transferred.

With this amount, the victim began gambling and saw some success at the start. However, the nightmare soon began as the businessman started losing his fortune. Eventually, he lost a massive sum of Rs 58 crore while winning just Rs 5 crore. He soon grew suspicious and demanded his money back, but Jain promptly refused. So he filed a case of fraud with the cyber police, which was registered under the Indian Penal Code.

What did the investigation find?

The investigation was launched and it lead the police to raid the scammer’s residence in Gondia on Sunday. Unfortunately, Anant managed to escape before the raid began and is believed to have traveled to Dubai. The raid was successful as the police recovered Rs 17 crores in cash alone. There were 14 kilograms of gold as well as over 200 kilograms of silver in the house. The large sum of cash is being counted and the final seizure amount has yet to be revealed. It is important to note that one should never click on any suspicious links and if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is.