Gaming addiction costs family ₹1.77 crore; youth attempts suicide after losing father’s compensation money.
A youth lost ₹1.77 crore in online gaming and later consumed poison after his father discovered the loss. ⚠️
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): A shocking case has come to light of a young man losing a large sum of money to the lure of online gaming and quick profits. An 18-year-old youth from the Jhabreda police station area of Haridwar district in Uttarakhand, lured by online gaming, transferred his farmer father's ₹1.77 crore to fraudsters. Based on the complaint, the Cyber Crime Police Station in Dehradun has registered a case against unknown suspects and launched an investigation.
In his complaint to the police, Abhimanyu stated that in January 2025, he downloaded gaming apps like Sports Baazi, Probo, and Dream11 from the Play Store and began investing in them. After these apps were shut down in June 2025, he saw an advertisement for a gaming website called "Win Adda" on YouTube. After entering his information on the website, he began receiving numerous so-called VIP links on his WhatsApp from unknown numbers with foreign codes (+237, +234, +94, etc.).
The fraudsters lured him into investing less money and promised him double the profits. Initially, they won his trust by promising small profits. After this, the young man began transferring money via UPI from his and his father's five accounts in Punjab National Bank, Axis Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank. Between January 2025 and December 2025, he transferred approximately ₹1.77 crore to the fraudsters' accounts.
When the young man asked for his principal and profits back, the fraudsters refused to return the money and instead pressured him to deposit more. Realizing he had been duped, the young man allegedly consumed poison, but his life was saved in time.
Kush Mishra, ASP of the Cyber Crime Police Station, said that the victim filed a complaint at the police station on Tuesday, following which a case was registered and an investigation was initiated. The young man also sold the mobile phone he used to transfer the money.
According to SSC STF officer Ajay Singh, the victim's family is a farmer and the young man is a BCA student. His father had received compensation for land acquired for the Doon-Delhi Expressway, a significant amount of which was lost in this fraud.