Thiruvananthapuram has seen three cases of cryptocurrency fraud in the last seven days, emphasizing the fact that fraudsters are thriving in the city. The third instance saw ten people accused of cheating a person of Rs 18 lakh by offering high returns from crypto-currency trading. With more people coming forward with similar complaints, cybercrime police station assistant commissioner P P Karunakaran is warning the public to be extra vigilant. He urged people to understand that social media posts offering miraculous returns are usually fake and are intended to exploit their vulnerability.
Recently, Nibin Robert, a 38-year-old from Thumba, was contacted by someone offering to make money through cryptocurrency trade. They asked the complainant to buy Bitcoin and offered an online job of predicting the Bitcoin’s rise and fall with a handsome salary. They then made the complainant gain some profit through fraudulent means, sending fake messages through telegram accounts and fake websites. The accused managed to convince the complainant to buy Bitcoin worth over Rs 18 lakh, which was then transferred to the accounts of the accused, after which they absconded with the money.
The case was thus registered against the 10 accused under sections 66 (C) and 66 (D) of the Information Technology Act-2000, as well as sections of IPC 419 for forgery, 420 for cheating, 468 for forgery for the purpose of cheating, 471 for fraudulent use of a forged document and 34 for crime committed by more than one persons. The cyber police also noted that the accused had created a fake website, http://bibxotc.in/index.html, to dupe the complainant.
Earlier last week, two people from the city were also swindled of Rs 18 lakh and Rs 14 lakh, respectively, in a similar cryptocurrency fraud.
