Delhi Police arrest 6 for duping man of Rs 10 lakh in cryptocurrency scam
The Delhi Police Monday arrested six men in connection with an alleged Tether or USDT cryptocurrency investment scam that targeted unsuspecting investors on the pretext of high returns.
The police said the case came to light after a victim filed a complaint alleging that he was conned into investing Rs 10 lakh via a fraudulent app, Bitop, after being contacted through Facebook Messenger.
“The complainant was induced to download a fake crypto trading application, and was shown fake gains in the wallet or dashboard. However, when he tried to withdraw the invested amount, the accused demanded a 30 per cent clearance fee, following which he realised he had been duped,” said Ankit Chauhan, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South).
The victim then approached the Cyber Police, following which a First Information Report (FIR) under Section 318(4) (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was registered.
The police’s first breakthrough came after the interrogation of Garima Singh from Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh, who had provided her bank account details to a neighbour, Alok Singh, 30, for Rs 1,000. She told the police that Singh had been procuring accounts from villagers, and passing them on to another man, Avinash Verma. Verma, in turn, sold them to the alleged mastermind, Himanshu Baisoya, 23, for Rs 15,000 each.
Baisoya, a BCA graduate from Kotla Mubarakpur in Delhi, was later arrested. “He operated the bank accounts, withdrew the cheated amount in cash from ATMs, purchased USDT in cash from Kamal Insan and Simaranjeet Singh and further transferred the USDT to his contacts at a higher margin,” said Chauhan.
Kamal Insan is a 29-year-old interior designer, and Simranjeet Singh, 28, is a BCA graduate who is currently unemployed. He introduced Baisoya to Insan, and also facilitated the purchase of USDT in cash, said the police. Verma, 20, provided eight bank accounts to Baisoya for cyber fraud. He also received bank accounts from Alok Singh, and handed them over to Baisoya.
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The Delhi Police said they have recovered several items, including five mobile phones, one laptop, and four PNB passbooks, which were allegedly used in the operation.