MBVV cops outwit Chinese scammers, retrieve Mira Rd man’s cryptos worth Rs 36L

About a year of probe which also involved a thorough understanding of cryptocurrency finally led the Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar cops to the complainantrsquos money swindled by Chinese scammers The cops managed to retrieve Tether stablecoinmdasha type of cryptocurrencymdashworth R36 lakh including Rs 3 lakh of profitAccording to the Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar MBVV cyber police complainant Yogesh Jain a mobile phone trader based in Mira Road came across a WhatsApp group that gave information on cryptocurrency investmentsThe MBVV cyber police team that solved the case PicsHanif PatelThe group was running under the banner of a Hong Kongbased companymdashBTC India It claimed to give high returns on investments After a few weeks of chats the accused managed to gain Jainrsquos confidence and made him transfer money into the wallet of BTC India from Binance cryptocurrency exchange police saidJain received good returns and showed interest in further investment following which BTC India appointed a manager to him named Marc on WhatsAppHow it startedAccording to cops Jain received a message on WhatsApp from 85246849180 on February 8 2022 about investing money in cryptocurrency They told Jain to purchase Tethermdasha stablecoin which is a type of cryptocurrency Jain purchased Tether through Binance and received a profit of 100 USDT TetherThe alleged Chinese scammersAfter a few days Jain again received a profit of 300 USDT Within 27 days Jain had invested around Rs 33 lakh in cryptocurrency on the Binance platform On March 8 Marc told him to transfer all his investment made on Binance to BTC India for additional profit according to cops Jain followed their instruction and made the transfer via httptradempisvipcomFor the next twothree days Jain noticed continued growth on the site He had invested 39500 USDT Rs 33 lakh which had grown to 150000 USDT on the site However on March 11 when he opened the site he got the text page not found Jain immediately realised that he had been conned yet he tried to contact Marc but the number was switched offJain approached the local police but they refused to file an FIR citing lack of evidence He then wrote to the cyber cell of MBVV police who startedan investigationThe probeA cyber police team was formed under the guidance of Senior Inspector Sujitkumar Gunjkar It comprised API Swapnil Wavhar PSI Prasad Shenolkar WHC Madhuri Dhindhe Constables Pallavi Nikam Suvarna Mali Ameena Pathan Pravin Awhad Ganesh Gilak and Kunal SalviFor better understanding of cryptocurrency the team got in touch with a USbased company that is an expert in this domain The company then asked the cops to contact OKXmdasha global cryptocurrency exchange headquartered in Victoria Seychelles a country in East AfricaThe MBVV cyber police team made 117 email communications with OKX giving them proof of the transactions and the fraud following which the firm agreed to help For further confirmation OKX took a video recording of Gunjkar and his ID card over the callOKX directed the MBVV cops to approach the court to seek permission for the transfer of the stolen cryptocurrency into Jainrsquos account The police team managed to get the permission OKX meanwhile found that the five Chinese citizens had duped Jain and also recovered their ID cardsWith coordination and cooperation of people across three continentsmdashAsia Africa and North AmericamdashJain finally got his money back on June 12 He not only got the amount he had invested but an additional R3 lakh In total he received R36 lakhmdashthe value of Tether on the day of the transfer to his account said a copMarch 2022Month Jain filed complaint with MBVV cyber cell