A 47-year-old man was allegedly cheated of over Rs25 lakh by a cyber fraudster who lured him with a fake online TikTok franchise, police said.
The victim, Kartik Velraj Chettiyar, a resident of Barde Layout in Sai Shraddha Nagar, Godhani, works in a private company.
According to Cyber Police, the fraud began on January 30 around 8 pm when Kartik received a WhatsApp message from a woman identifying herself as Aditi Trivedi, who claimed to operate TikTok online stores from Hong Kong.
She told him she was running a successful e-commerce franchise linked to TikTok and asked if he was interested in starting a similar business. Trusting her claims, Kartik agreed.
The accused then began sending him product images and explained how he could earn substantial profits through online sales. On February 19, she shared a link to a purported TikTok shop platform and asked him to create login credentials. After setting up the account, Kartik started investing money as instructed.
Over time, he transferred a total of Rs25,39,000 into bank accounts provided by the accused for purchasing products. The online dashboard displayed profits, convincing him that the business was genuine. However, when he attempted to withdraw the money, he was asked to deposit additional funds.
Growing suspicious, Kartik approached the Cyber Police and lodged a complaint.
Based on his complaint, police have registered a case against Aditi Trivedi and her accomplices under charges of cheating and relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act.
An investigation is underway to trace the accused and recover the defrauded amount.
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