Crypto fraudsters thrive on victims’ greed | Ahmedabad News
Ahmedabad/Surat/Vadodara/Rajkot: A typical cryptocurrency scammer, most times with a fake profile of a woman, will first approach you via an Instagram DM and ask you if you want to earn 40% or 60% profit on your bitcoin investment yours for a small investment of Rs 5,000,” says Pratik Jain, 29, a grocery shop owner from Navrangpura.
“They then create an account for you on their fake phishing site and will ask you to load that account with a small amount using UPI payment. They then add you to a WhatsApp or Telegram group and claim that you trade. You will book an 11.25% profit and when you invest more, they pay 22% profit. After a few weeks of trading, they disappear,” says Jain.
Pratik is not alone, more than 300 people in Gujarat have filed complaints to the cybercrime hotline number 1930 about such fraudulent deals in the last one year. Gujarat is not new to crypto scams.
One of the earliest known cryptocurrency scams to come to light was when a Surat-based business entity floated bitcoin called BitConnect, which went bust in early 2018. Well-meaning investors are estimated to have lost close to Rs 500 crore to the scam. The promoter disappeared.
“Not many came forward to register their complaints for fear of IT raid that time, says a senior Gujarat CID (crime) official. BitConnect promoters had issued a cryptocurrency token, “BCC”, and launched a global trading and lending platform for investors in 2016. The scam came to light after a controversial kidnapping case.
Vishal Rabari, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Cybercrime) Rajkot, says, “Generally, victims get calls from unknown women, who post fake profiles on social media. These women then develop friendships with their victims. These women claim that they are operating from a foreign countries. They lure their victims into investing in cryptocurrency with the promise of high returns. Victims are forced to download mobile apps that take over the victim’s device and transfer the money.”
Rabari says that over the past few months, a dozen cases have been registered with the cyber cell.
In the city of Vadodara, Hardik Makadia, ACP (cybercrime), explains that he receives three to four complaints every month: “Some gangs lure people to invest in cryptocurrency and then disappear with their money. Some gangs simply cheat people under the pretext of investing in cryptocurrency.”
The Vadodara cybercrime arrested four people in December last year for duping a person on the pretext of selling bitcoins. The victim had transferred Rs 1.41 lakh to a bank account to buy bitcoins, but the gang absconded with the money.
In July 2021, a Vadodara-based businessman lost Rs 2 crore after a gang promised to help him start a bitcoin business and cheated him.
(With input from Ashish Chauhan and Paul John)
“They then create an account for you on their fake phishing site and will ask you to load that account with a small amount using UPI payment. They then add you to a WhatsApp or Telegram group and claim that you trade. You will book an 11.25% profit and when you invest more, they pay 22% profit. After a few weeks of trading, they disappear,” says Jain.
Pratik is not alone, more than 300 people in Gujarat have filed complaints to the cybercrime hotline number 1930 about such fraudulent deals in the last one year. Gujarat is not new to crypto scams.
One of the earliest known cryptocurrency scams to come to light was when a Surat-based business entity floated bitcoin called BitConnect, which went bust in early 2018. Well-meaning investors are estimated to have lost close to Rs 500 crore to the scam. The promoter disappeared.
“Not many came forward to register their complaints for fear of IT raid that time, says a senior Gujarat CID (crime) official. BitConnect promoters had issued a cryptocurrency token, “BCC”, and launched a global trading and lending platform for investors in 2016. The scam came to light after a controversial kidnapping case.
Vishal Rabari, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Cybercrime) Rajkot, says, “Generally, victims get calls from unknown women, who post fake profiles on social media. These women then develop friendships with their victims. These women claim that they are operating from a foreign countries. They lure their victims into investing in cryptocurrency with the promise of high returns. Victims are forced to download mobile apps that take over the victim’s device and transfer the money.”
Rabari says that over the past few months, a dozen cases have been registered with the cyber cell.
In the city of Vadodara, Hardik Makadia, ACP (cybercrime), explains that he receives three to four complaints every month: “Some gangs lure people to invest in cryptocurrency and then disappear with their money. Some gangs simply cheat people under the pretext of investing in cryptocurrency.”
The Vadodara cybercrime arrested four people in December last year for duping a person on the pretext of selling bitcoins. The victim had transferred Rs 1.41 lakh to a bank account to buy bitcoins, but the gang absconded with the money.
In July 2021, a Vadodara-based businessman lost Rs 2 crore after a gang promised to help him start a bitcoin business and cheated him.
(With input from Ashish Chauhan and Paul John)
