Mumbai: A merchant navy officer complained to the police that he was cheated out of over 1.03 million rupees in a cryptocurrency transaction.
He received a message on Telegram, promising high returns and was instructed to open an account on a cryptocurrency trading platform.
He bought USDT to trade in cryptocurrency and sent USDT to a wallet provided by the accused. In 71 transactions, he sent USDT totaling 1.03 million rupees. He realized he was cheated when he did not receive his money back and was asked to pay taxes.
The officer, in his late 20s, filed an FIR with the southern cybercrime police station on Grant Road recently. The crime occurred between March 25 and May 9 this year.
The police stated that the complainant received a Telegram message on March 25 about high profits in cryptocurrency trading.
During the investigation, he was asked to open an account on a cryptocurrency platform and buy USDT. He was provided with login credentials and a password by the accused, who sent him a link requesting him to access it. When he opened the link, he found a virtual wallet under his name.
The police stated that the IP addresses of the cryptocurrency trading platforms in the case were located in Cambodia.
When the complainant told the accused that cryptocurrency was very expensive, they provided him with the name of another platform and gave new login credentials and a password.
The police said the accused told him that they would trade for him, and he continued to send money. He could see his investment and profits in a virtual wallet. The complainant told the police that after investing over 1.03 million rupees, he saw his profits and investment at 3 million rupees.
When he wanted to withdraw money, he was asked to pay taxes. He was then blocked from the trading platforms.
An investigation team led by senior inspector Nandkumar Gopale, inspector Kiran Jadhav, and deputy inspector Shweta Dhok has written to three cryptocurrency platforms for details about the accused. #IndiaCrypto #PiNetworkMainnet $BTC $ETH $BNB
