Panaji: In yet another case of online scamsters cheating Goans, a senior citizen from Bardez has lost his lifetime savings of over Rs 2.63 crore to a cyber fraud.
According to police, user of a website www.maunto.com and some other individuals contacted the 68-year-old man through a social media platform and induced him to invest and trade in crypto currency.
Further, on the pretext of high returns on investment, they made the senior citizen deposit Rs 2,63,30,000 in different bank accounts by way of various transactions. However, the senior citizen was unable to withdraw even a few thousand rupees, police said referring to his complaint.
Cyber crime police, Ribandar, have registered a First Information Report (FIR) in connection with the case under relevant sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Information Technology Act.
In his complaint, the senior citizen has said that he was scammed of Rs 2,63,30,000 “which is my lifetime savings”.
The fraud started when the complainant signed up on https://www.maunto.com on February 13, 2025 after seeing a displayed advertisement that claimed that one of the richest Indian men, Mukesh Ambani, had invested in the company and that one could start trading at a minimum investment of around $250.
Subsequently, the complainant received a call from one Aliza. She told the complainant that she would provide training to him and also tips on trading in currency, crypto and commodities. The complainant initially saw his investment doubling. Subsequently, he was asked to invest more following which he transferred money to different bank accounts, according to the complaint.
When the complainant made a request to withdraw some of the money as a test, Aliza asked him to withdraw $100 following which he put up a request on March 10, 2025, but did not receive any amount. He reminded Aliza about the issue, which, she said, would be looked into.
The senior citizen realised that he was taken for a ride when he visited Pune where one of his relatives told him that it was a scam. He then reported the matter to the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.
