“Highly paid software professionals” are among at least 15,000 Indians who are victims of a recently busted cryptowallet investment fraud worth over Rs 700 crore that was run by Chinese operators, Hyderabad Police Commissioner CV Anand said on Monday.
According to officials, victims were tasked with simple assignments, like liking YouTube videos or writing Google reviews and were remunerated upon completion.
The Hyderabad police on Saturday announced the detection of a cryptowallet investment fraud amounting to Rs 712 crore by Chinese operators.
In connection with this case, nine people have been arrested from various locations in the country. The police in its statement said some of the cryptowallet transactions involved in the fraud had linkages with a Hezbollah wallet, labelled as belonging to a terror financing module.
The state police are notifying Central agencies about the incident and the cybercrime unit of the Union Home Ministry has been provided with all the relevant details, Anand told NDTV.
“It is quite shocking and surprising that even highly paid software professionals have lost as much as Rs 82 lakh,” he added.
‘Rate and Review’ Scam
A case was registered by the Cyber Crime Police based on a complaint filed by a resident of Hyderabad. The complainant stated that he was offered a part-time job to “rate and review” certain tasks through a messaging app. Believing it to be legitimate, he registered on their website.
Initially, he received simple tasks and was asked to invest a small amount of Rs 1,000 to give five-star ratings, earning a profit of Rs 866. However, later on, despite earning a profit of Rs 20,000 after investing Rs 25,000, he was not allowed to withdraw the profit. Instead, he was coerced into investing more money and eventually lost a total of Rs 28 lakh.
Investigations revealed that the victim’s lost money, amounting to Rs 28 lakh, was transferred to six accounts, which were then further used to transfer the funds to various Indian bank accounts and eventually to Dubai. The fraudulent money was utilised to purchase cryptocurrency, as per a PTI report.
According to the police’s explanation of the scam’s trajectory, at least 15,000 Indian victims, who suffered losses averaging Rs 5-6 lakh in less than a year, were targeted through platforms like Telegram and WhatsApp.
They were enticed to invest small sums, usually up to Rs 5,000 and upon completing the initial task, received lucrative returns, at times even double the invested amount. Subsequently, the investors were coaxed into participating in a sequence of 7-8 transactions, with each requiring higher investment amounts.
Over 113 Indian Bank Accounts Used
Following the investigation into the case, authorities initially found 48 bank accounts linked to shell companies involved in the fraud, according to the NDTV report. At that time, the estimated value of the scam was believed to be Rs 584 crores.
However, as the probe progressed, it was revealed that an additional Rs 128 crore was swindled by the scammers,and a total of 113 Indian bank accounts were utilised in the fraudulent activities, it said.
The illicit funds underwent multiple transactions through various accounts and were eventually converted into cryptocurrency. The money was then routed to China via Dubai.
A police officer told the news site that the accounts, initially opened in India using Indian SIM cards, were later operated remotely from Dubai. The fraudsters were in contact with Chinese operators, Kevin Jun, Lee Lou Langzhou and Shasha, who were allegedly identified as the “masterminds” behind the elaborate scam.
Nine Arrested
Nine people have been arrested in connection with the case – four from Hyderabad, three from Mumbai and two from Ahmedabad, as per reports. The police are actively searching for at least six more suspects based in Dubai involved in the fraud.
According to the Hyderabad police statement, the complex fraud involved a resident of Ahmedabad who had connections with Chinese citizens. He was responsible for coordinating with them by sharing details of Indian bank accounts and providing OTPs for remote access from Dubai/China using specific apps.
Investigations also revealed that one of the arrested individuals had shared more than 65 accounts with Chinese citizens, resulting in transactions totaling Rs 128 crore.
The fraudulent money was converted into the United States Department of Treasury (USDT cryptocurrency) through other accounts, with a total value of Rs 584 crore. In sum, the scamsters managed to siphon off over Rs 712 crore in this elaborate scheme, as stated in the release.
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