Mysuru: Cyber fraudsters have cheated two Mysuru residents, aged 72 and 50, of a total of Rs. 27,58,793 in separate incidents.

In the first case, Rajesh (name changed), a 72-year-old resident of J.P. Nagar, lost Rs. 12,28,899 after responding to an investment advertisement on Facebook.

According to his complaint, Rajesh came across a video advertisement on Facebook on June 19, in which Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was purportedly seen promoting an investment scheme.

After clicking on the link, he came across various investment plans promising profits of Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 55,000 a month. After making enquiries and following the instructions of the fraudsters, Rajesh transferred a total of Rs. 12,93,899 from his State Bank of India and HDFC Bank accounts between June 19 and July 2.

He initially withdrew Rs. 65,000 from the investment but was unable to withdraw any further amount. The fraudsters then told him that he had to deposit more money to withdraw his profits.

Realising that he had been cheated, Rajesh contacted the Cyber Crime Helpline No. 1930 and lodged a complaint.

Rs. 15.29 lakh lost in online trading fraud

In another case, a 50-year-old man from Siddarthanagar was allegedly cheated of Rs. 15,29,894 after being lured into investing in online trading. The victim, Arun (name changed), came across an investment advertisement while browsing Facebook and called the phone number provided in the advertisement.

The fraudsters, who answered the call, explained the share market and told him that he could double his money by investing in online trading. They later sent a link to his WhatsApp number and asked him to download a mobile application through which he could make investments.

Believing their claims, Arun downloaded the app and invested a total of Rs. 15,29,894. He realised later that he had been cheated and contacted the Cyber Crime Helpline No. 1930 before lodging a complaint.