Representative image for cryptocurrencies.
Credit: iStock photo
Bengaluru: A 37-year-old man lost a whopping Rs 76.2 lakh in alleged cryptocurrency investments in a “fraudulent” website following suggestions of a woman he met on a matrimonial site.
Sandeep Sharma (name changed) received a message from Megha Raghavan, who claimed to be working and residing in London for the last five years. She allegedly asked for Sharma’s number and messaged for over 15 days to win his trust.
Making sure that Sharma had warmed up to her, she coerced him into investing in cryptocurrency through a fraudulent website, which Sharma claimed she sent him.
When Sharma felt anxious about the website’s authenticity, she shared a few more screenshots on WhatsApp showing ridiculously high profits on investments.
Lured by the pictures, he created a profile visiting “www.deuncoin.com”.
Unlike other cryptocurrency investments, a person claiming to be from the “deuncoin” support team sent Sharma an account number and asked him to transfer the money.
Having transferred the money, Sharma checked the account to find out that 2,000 USDT (cryptocurrency) had been reflecting there. He traded through the website and found 230 USDT.
This convinced Sharma to invest more, especially after Megha goaded him by saying the market would be less risky and highly profitable in the coming weeks. He invested Rs 21.3 lakh through a series of transactions, getting a profit of Rs 2.6 crore.
But Sharma had problems while withdrawing the money. He allegedly had to pay tax to withdraw the sum. He was asked to pay even more since the money was not credited. The payments he made eventually totalled up to Rs 76.2 lakh.
Unable to get the money in hand, a suspicious Sharma lodged a complaint with the South CEN police station.
Sharma told DH that most of the money was borrowed from his friends and family and that he is now deep in debt.
Modus operandi
1) Potential target receives message from matrimonial site
2) Accused builds trust by speaking to target for a few days
3) Attempts to entice target into investing in cryptocurrency
4) Sends target links of dubious website
5) Shows high profits to lure the target into investing more
6) Asks to pay tax when target tries withdrawing profit
7) Accused gets hefty sums and goes incommunicado