A gang of fraudsters duped a retired army Captain of Rs 72.16 lakh after promising to invest in Elon Musk's SpaceX and Tesla, and cryptocurrency, the police in Haryana's Faridabad said.
Captain Shakti Swaroop Lamba (retired) in his complaint to the police said a person with the X handle name Anna Sherman contacted him on the microblogging platform owned by Mr Musk in January 2024, and introduced herself as a manager of Mr Musk's company in the US.
From X, Captain Lamba and the 'manager' took their conversation to WhatsApp.
To take the investment proposal forward, the fake manager of Mr Musk's company introduced more people to the retired army officer, who identified them as Rahul Sarkar, Shoen Habib Mola, Keshav Rai, Parimal, Deepak Chakraborty, Vikramjit Singh, and Mukesh Kumar.
An X account under the name May Musk also contacted Captain Lamba, identifying herself as the mother of the SpaceX and Tesla owner. During their conversation, Captain Lamba praised Elon Musk for his role in bringing Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams back from the International Space Station (ISS), the police said.
According to the complaint, Anna Sherman told Captain Lamba that if he invests in SpaceX and Tesla, she can arrange a meeting with Elon Musk. She also shared the phone number of an individual who impersonated Elon Musk. After Captain Lamba began chatting with the fake Elon Musk on WhatsApp, the fraudster asked him to invest in his companies.
Captain Lamba deposited Rs 2.91 lakh in a Kotak Mahindra Bank account on January 25, 2024 to buy shares in SpaceX and Tesla. He kept on sending money whenever the fraudsters asked in order to get maximum returns from his 'investments'.
During this time, a man claiming to be Elon Musk sent Captain Lamba a photo of a Rolex watch and offered to send it to him and his wife, the police said.
Later, when Captain Lamba asked for his money along with the profit, the fraudsters told him the company's bank accounts had been frozen, and Elon Musk would come to India himself to hand over the money.
The police said Captain Lamba invested heavily from his savings and borrowing from friends and family. He also used his credit card.
The total amount that the fraudsters cleaned from his account is Rs 72.16 lak, according to the police complaint, based on which a case has been filed with the cyber crime cell.
Cryptocurrency Scam
In February 2024, a Bengaluru-based cryptocurrency agent identified as Vikramjit Singh contacted Captain Lamba informing him of Rs 25 lakh profit from his cryptocurrency investments, which will be sent to a non-profit as donation.
The fraudster promised the retired man that he would be paid only after the income tax department and the Enforcement Directorate under a certain officer called TC Agarwal gave the green light, for which Captain Lamba would have to pay Rs 4 lakh. He agreed, only to realise he had been cheated again.
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