Client list hacked, ‘Rs 3.8 crore’ lost; Three held from Pilani, Mumbai, Ahmedabad
Telegraph | 1 March 2025
A group of young men broke into a sought-after wealth adviser’s client list and offered advice to them using his investment tips otherwise meant for paying subscribers.
Three men have been arrested from Pilani in Rajasthan, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. At least one of them is a technology student in a reputable institution, police said.
When the wealth adviser realised the fraud and his office contacted the social media handle where the confidential data was being shared, the accused started demanding ₹30 lakh or cryptocurrency worth the amount as the price to stop the information leak.
Basant Maheswari, who is from CG Block in Salt Lake, told Metro from his Mumbai office on Friday that he incurred a loss of ₹3.87 crore as 2,207 users unsubscribed from his services after they started getting the same advice free of cost, leaked fraudulently on social media.
The alleged leaks started in October last year when an engineering student in Rajasthan started a handle on X where he used Maheswari’s photograph as the display picture and started sharing his stock portfolio, the police said.
Within a few days, the X handle started sharing Maheswari’s entire client list.
In response to such illegal acts, one of the partners of the firm, Shalu Mehra, sent a message warning the offending user from carrying out such acts. In reply, the person said he would continue to leak private information and there was nothing that the police could do as he said he was in Qatar, Maheswari said.
The accused allegedly continued to share confidential data in the public domain till the matter was reported to the police.
“We were tracking this X handle very closely when this person started demanding money to stop leaking our information in public. To scare me he also leaked an identity document of my son and threatened to publish more,” Maheswari said.
Bidhannagar police started a case in January and the cyber wing of the commissionerate was activated.
During the probe, the police tracked down the accused X-handle user and identified him as Mohammad Ateeque, 21, a student of an engineering college in Pilani, Rajasthan.
One of his acquaintances, Yash Naresh Waghela, 23, was arrested from Peddar Road in Mumbai.
“Another person connected to these men virtually was found sharing the paid videos of the complainant on the Telegram platform. He was operating from Ahmedabad and was also arrested,” said a senior officer of Bidhannagar police.
The police identified the third accused as Bhatt Bhoumick Vipulkumar, 27, from Ahmedabad.
Complainant Maheswari said: “A total of 2,207 users unsubscribed from October 11, 2024, till date, causing us a financial loss of ₹3,87,00,430.”
The police said they were investigating how the men accessed the private details of the wealth adviser.
“We are working on finding out how they managed unauthorised access to the complainant’s firm’s confidential data,” a senior officer said.
The police have seized mobile phones, debit cards and laptops from the arrested trio.
The three have been charged under sections of criminal breach of trust, cheating, cheating by personation, forgery, defamation and extortion.