Using a fake social media profile of a British national residing in Noida with a family business in Singapore, cybercriminals duped a Pune-based pharmacist of over Rs 9 lakh by manipulating him with promises of very high returns in cryptocurrency.
Earlier this week, 30-year-old pharmacist Dr TalukaA complaint was registered at Bhor Police Station under Pune Rural Police. A few days ago, he came in contact with a woman on Facebook, who identified herself as a British national currently residing in Noida. After the complainant started chatting, the ‘woman’ shared her international WhatsApp number. After a while, she said she was going to Singapore where her family has a business.
The woman sometimes spoke to the complainant on audio calls and repeatedly sent her pictures to him. After some time, she told him that she had found a very good investment opportunity in cryptocurrency that promised very high returns. After initially not wanting to make any investment, the woman instigated the complainant to send money by sharing a fake screenshot of the profit she had earned and watched. He was forced to register with a fraudulent cryptocurrency exchange before being asked to send money.
The complainant was asked to send money to certain bank accounts and the fraudulent exchange showed high corresponding income. The woman who was in contact with him was instructing him to send money. According to the police, 2.2 million rupees were returned in the fraud application for an investment of 2.95 million.
‘50% Singapore Government Tax’
When the complainant tried to get the money back, he was asked to pay 11 lakh rupees to the Singapore government as 50% tax on his earnings. When the complainant said that she did not have that amount, she asked him to send it as soon as possible. He sent Rs 6.27 lakh and sought the help of women to get his earnings. It was at this point that the woman was contacted and the complainant realized that he had been duped.
He contacted the Pune Rural Police and an FIR was registered on Monday. The police have started an investigation this morning.
In one such incident reported last year, a city-based software engineer was linked to a woman named Elizabeth who claimed to be in the winery business and cryptocurrency business. The victim, who had been investing in Bitcoin for some time, was offered tutorials on crypto trading to earn high profits.
Within 10 days of their interaction, the victim invested 40,600 Tether cryptocurrency (known as USDT) in a fake cryptocurrency exchange worth over Rs.33 lakh. As the exchange website began to reflect high returns on every investment, when he tried to withdraw, it became clear that the exchange did not exist.
The risk of crypto investment fraud is flagged
Cyber ​​investigators from Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad have urged people not to fall for fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platforms where victims are often lured through misleading social media ads, fake social media profiles, or phone messenger groups.
Cyber ​​researchers suggest that investors should only use trusted and known cryptocurrency exchanges and stress that investors specifically research the names of these cryptocurrency exchanges and check if they use names that sound like known platforms.
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