The accused persons were produced before the Judicial Magistrate in Poonamallee and remanded to judicial custody | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Cyber Crime Wing of Avadi City Police arrested three youngsters for allegedly collecting ₹40,000 each from around 40 people by advertising forex trading courses on Instagram and using videos showing purported profits to lure them into investing in trading platforms.
According to the Avadi City Police, the accused — Kavin Prasanth (24), Keerthivasan (24), and Parthiban (24), all from Thiruverkadu — operated an Instagram account, ‘tradingcrew’, through which they promoted forex trading and training courses.
On October 2, the account featured a video showing around 40 people purportedly earning lakhs of rupees through trading on the ‘Just Markets’ brokerage platform and ‘MetaTrader 5’. The video created the impression that participants had made substantial profits, the police said.
An investigation was launched on the orders of the Avadi City Police Commissioner, T. Senthil Kumar. The police found that around 40 people from Tamil Nadu and Bengaluru had registered for the training programme, believing the advertisements. The accused allegedly collected ₹40,000 from each participant, promised trading training at various locations and encouraged them to invest in the platforms.
The trio allegedly recorded videos on mobile phones showing purported trading profits and uploaded them to Instagram to gain the confidence of the public and attract investments in unauthorised forex trading platforms. The police said the accused planned to make substantial sums of money through the scheme.
Three mobile phones used by the accused were seized. The men were produced before the Judicial Magistrate in Poonamallee and remanded to judicial custody.
The police have cautioned the public against trading advertisements promising high returns on social media and advised investors to verify the authorisation of trading platforms before investing. Those who lost money after being influenced by the videos or the accused have been asked to lodge complaints with the police.
Published - October 14, 2026 04:10 pm IST