HYDERABAD: Around 15,000 Indians, including high-paid software professionals, recently fell victim to a cryptowallet investment fraud of over Rs 700 crore perpetrated by Chinese operators. Hyderabad Police Commissioner CV Anand gave this information on Monday. According to the officials, the victims were assigned simple tasks like liking YouTube videos or writing Google reviews and were paid upon completion.
The Hyderabad Police on Saturday announced the busting of a Rs 712 crore cryptowallet investment fraud by Chinese operators. In this connection, nine people have been arrested from different places in the country. In its statement, the police said that some of the cryptocurrency transactions involved in the fraud were related to the Hezbollah wallet, which is believed to be related to the Terror Funding Module of Lebanon.
Anand told NDTV that the state police is informing central agencies about the incident and all relevant details have been provided to the Cyber Crime Unit of the Union Home Ministry. He further said, “It is quite shocking and surprising that even the highly paid software professionals have suffered a loss of Rs 82 lakh.”
113 Indian bank accounts accessed
As per the NDTV report, after probing the case, the officials initially found 48 bank accounts linked to the shell companies involved in the fraud. At that time the estimated cost of the scam was considered to be Rs 584 crore. However, as the investigation progressed, it was revealed that the scamsters siphoned off an additional Rs 128 crore and a total of 113 Indian bank accounts were used in the fraudulent activities.
According to a police release, the cybercrime police had registered the case on the basis of a complaint from a person resident of Hyderabad. The complainant stated that he was offered a part-time job through a messaging app for ratings and reviews (certain tasks). Believing it to be genuine, he registered on their website and became a victim of fraud.
According to the release, one of the persons arrested in this case was associated with some Chinese nationals. He coordinates with Indian bank accounts by sharing their information and shares OTP to operate these accounts from Dubai-China through remote access apps.
