Over 59,000 People Duped By Online Trading Fraud In Odisha In 5 Years, Says CM

Bhubaneswar: More than 59,000 people have been cheated by fraudsters during online trading of stocks in Odisha in the last five years.

Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said this in Assembly in reply to a question from Congress MLA Tarakanta Bahinipati on Monday. The MLA sought details of the people who have been duped for online during the period.

The chief minister said total 59,437 people have fallen victim to the online trading fraud in the last five years.  Stating that online trading of stocks has emerged as a source of income for the people, he said at the same time, the fraudsters have found it an easy medium to dupe those who are not very conversant with the operation.

He said only 18 people had been cheated during online trading in 2019 when the stock trading through internent was just starting in the state. But the number of victims of fraud increased to 28 in 2020, 22 in 2021, and 105 in 2022.

The number of online trade fraud made a sudden jump to 18,994 in 2023. It has already gone up to 40,270 in 11 months of this year, the chief minister added.