Police in Tamil Nadu have taken into custody a 26-year-old man for allegedly perpetrating a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scheme. Dinesh Kumar, a resident of Coimbatore, was identified after a complainant reported being contacted by an international number last year.
The caller reportedly told the victim about the possibilities of trading on the Forex market and convinced them to invest nearly Rs 20 lakh in a USDT (United States Department of the Treasury) venture. However, upon making the deposit, the perpetrator stopped responding to calls, indicating the individual had been scammed.
Following a thorough investigation, law enforcement tracked the movement of the stolen funds and located the suspect in Coimbatore. During the inquiry, Kumar confessed to having transferred the money to a recently opened current bank account prior to transferring it to other accounts.
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Kumar is said to have obtained knowledge about digital banking and taken digital marketing courses prior to commencing his fraudulent activities. In June last year, CloudSEK reported that fake cryptocurrency exchanges had defrauded Indian investors of around $128 million (nearly Rs 1,000 crore) in the midst of the global crypto market downturn. The cybersecurity firm further identified an ongoing campaign involving several phishing domains and Android-based fake crypto applications.
“This large-scale swindle lures unsuspecting people into a major betting scam. A number of these deceptive websites impersonated “CoinEgg”, a reputable UK-based crypto trading platform,” the report stated.
(With inputs from PTI)
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