A man from Mumbai got deceived of ₹ 1.57 crore in a crypto scam. As per the report the complainant became friends with the accused online during October 2021.
The complainant is a resident of Napean Sea in Mumbai’s upscale Malabar Hill area, and he accused a website of tricking him into investing in crypto mining schemes. The accused told the police that a ponzi website trapped him in the investment scheme. The case has been filed at the Malabar Hill police station in Mumbai.
After a few days of befriending the 36 year old complainant, the accused began contacting him about cryptocurrency mining. The accused explained to the complainant that by investing in cryptocurrency mining hardware via the website ‘USD Miner’ he could gain an extensive amount of money.
The accused also told him about a lot of strategies he would use to gain money. The complainant got fascinated with the idea of earning a lot of money and hence, decided to get involved and chose to invest.
The complainant kept investing more and more money as per the instructions of the accused person as profit was being credited to his virtual wallet.
As per a police officer, the complainant had invested 2.83 lakh in Australian dollars (approximately ₹ 1.53 crore) since October 2021.
Anyhow, whenever the complainant tried to withdraw the money, the accused always stopped him in order to keep the deception going, according to the police.
This behaviour made the complainant doubtful earlier this month after the accused continuously tried to convince him not to take out the money.
After feeling that something was not right, the complainant asked for a full refund of his money from the accused. But as soon as the complainant realised that something was wrong the accused switched off his phone and became unreachable. The complainant asked around and discovered that the website was a hoax too.
He immediately filed a police complaint and registered an FIR against an anonymous person under the affiliated provisions of the IPC as well as the IT Act.
Also Read: Hoax Call About Robbery Turns into Crypto Dacoity in India
The police have contacted the service provider and the bank in question, requesting more information regarding the fake website and the beneficiary bank accounts to which the funds were fraudulently transferred.
Crypto scams are increasing in India as the knowledge for the new normal is limited to a relatively small group of people as compared to the huge population that the country is home to. Recently, Mumbai HC rejected bail for a man accused of committing crypto crime. This shows that the government is trying to control this issue.
