Mangaluru man loses Rs 76 lakh in investment scam

A man from Mangaluru lost over Rs 76 lakh in an online investment scam. He was tricked by a woman named Sagarika Agarwal, whom he met on Telegram on December 12. She promised him large profits from stock market investments. After their initial conversation, she began sending him messages on WhatsApp from various phone numbers, encouraging him to invest money in the scheme. Sagarika provided links to websites and helped him set up a login account. When the victim registered and clicked on the online service, he was directed to a Telegram channel. There, he received instructions to transfer money to certain bank accounts. While in Dubai on December 20, the man made his first investment of AED 1,200, which is about Rs 27,600. He saw a small return initially, which made him trust the scheme. Believing in the promise of even bigger returns, he kept investing over the next few months. From December 20 to March 11, the victim transferred a total of Rs 76.3 lakh to different unknown bank accounts. When he wanted to withdraw his total profits of $1,70,000 (around Rs 1.4 crore) on March 13, he was told he had to pay extra taxes first. A case has been filed at the CEN crime police station.