MUMBAI, June 4 -- A 52-year-old man was duped of Rs.1.44 crore via a fake trading app between March 10 and May 10. On Monday, the police registered a case against unidentified persons in connection with the fraud. According to the police, on March 2, the complainant was added to a WhatsApp group named 986-ASK-Elite Wealth Traders, which provided tips for trading to earn high profits. Two days later, a person identifying herself as Riya Rawat contacted him on WhatsApp, claiming to be a representative of ASK Stock Exchange Group. She got him to open a trading account on the company's app, called ASK-IATOP, for investing in the stock market. The police said that the complainant initially invested Rs.10,000, after which the app displayed that he had made considerable profits. Lured by the profit, he eventually invested Rs.1.05 crore over 20 transactions between March 10 and May 10. His trading account on the app reflected a Rs.16.75 crore profit, but he was unable to withdraw the amount. When he called the customer service, he was informed that a 10% service charge was to be paid in order to withdraw his profits. The complainant paid the service charge but was still unable to withdraw. He was then told that there was some problem and he should pay a fine of Rs.3.68 lakh. The complainant paid the fine but was still unable to withdraw the funds on the pretext of some excuses. He was further asked to pay Rs.5 lakh which he refused, suspecting foul play. The man called the cyber helpline number, 1930, on May 10. On Monday, the Central Cyber police registered a case against the trading platform for the fraud. The FIR was registered against unidentified persons under section 318 (4) (cheating), 319 (2) (cheating by personation), 336 (2) (forgery), 336 ( 3) (forgery with the intent to use the forged document or electronic record for the purpose of cheating), 338 (forges a document which purports to be a valuable security or a will), 340 ( 2) (using a forged document or electronic record as genuine), 3(5) ( common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita along with section 66 (D) IT act....