Thane: Man loses Rs 31 lakh in crypto currency investment fraud

Representational image/ File Pic

In another case of cyber fraud, a 60 year-old man was duped of Rs 30.80 lakh in online cryptocurrency investment fraud, reported PTI citing police on Saturday.

Police have registered an FIR against two persons and are conducting investigations.

An FIR has been registered against two persons by the police and furthe investigation is underway.

"The complainant was contacted by two persons on WhatsApp in June who inducted him a member of a group assuring him hefty returns for investing in cryptocurrency," a Vartak Nagar police station official said.

Trusting them, the victim invested around Rs 31 lakh. However, as he failed to redeem returns, he contacted the group administrators, who started ignoring him, the official said, reported PTI.

The official added that nobody has been arrested yet.

Meanwhile, three youths with only a 10th-grade education allegedly cheated a Nagpur resident of Rs 5 lakh in an online fraud through an IT solutions company they established. They were arrest from Mumbai, reported PTI citing a police official on June 30.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Atul Indrapati Singh (32) of Virar in Palghar, Neeraj Shamkumar Choubey (26) of Nalasopara, and Vikas Meghlal Saw (23) from Dahisar, the Nagpur Cyber Police official said.

According to the police, the trio recently founded a company named Samarth IT Solutions and listed their contact details on Google, said PTI.

In May, Atul Uike, a resident of Nagpur's Mahal area, started facing issues with the PhonePe app, an online payments app, on his mobile device. He searched for customer care contact information on Google and found the number listed by Samarth IT Solutions.

Following the provided instructions, Uike made a video call during which the fraudsters manipulated his settings, promising that the app would start functioning by night, reported PTI citing an official.

Over the next two days, a total of Rs 5 lakh was transferred from his account in three transactions of Rs 1.49 lakh, Rs 1.99 lakh, and another Rs 1.49 lakh. Following the transactions, Uike lodged a complaint with the cyber police, which led to the arrest of the fraudsters, the official said.