Bank employee loses ₹41.2 lakh in online forex scam
Victim met fraudster through Telegram; complaint filed with cyber crime police
A 39-year-old bank employee from Hyderabad has lodged a complaint with Cyberabad Cyber Crime Police Station alleging that he lost ₹41.2 lakh in an online forex trading scam run through a cloned website.
Boddu Sathyanarayana, a resident of Brindavan Colony, Nallakunta, informed police that he came across a woman Manisha Verma, she claimed to be a digital marketing entrepreneur from Colaba, Mumbai, on Telegram in July 2025. During their conversations, she allegedly expressed romantic interest and persuaded him to invest in forex trading through Darwinex Global CS Ltd.
Promised high returns, demanded ‘tax’ for withdrawal
According to Sathyanarayana’s complaint, the woman managed all trading operations, claiming to generate high profits. “I invested ₹31.70 lakh while she said she had deposited ₹35 lakh into my account. Together, we earned a profit of ₹2.40 crore,” he said in his statement.
When he tried to withdraw the amount, customer service representatives of the trading platform demanded an advance tax payment of ₹69 lakh, purportedly as per Indian income tax rules. Sathyanarayana said he paid ₹10 lakh while his online contact claimed to have paid ₹21 lakh towards the ‘tax’.
FCA confirms website was fake
Sathyanarayana later verified the firm’s credentials with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), UK, which confirmed that the website was cloned and fraudulent . “When I confronted her with this information, she insisted the company was genuine and kept urging me to pay the tax,” he said.
He told police that the woman never disclosed her full identity, address or bank details, and that all communications took place over Telegram. He has sought investigation into both the online contact and the company to verify their genuineness and recover his funds.
Police said the complaint is being verified and an investigation is underway.
