Delhi woman held for Rs 3 crore crypto scam

THANE: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Thane city police crime branch arrested a 31-year-old woman from Delhi in a multi-crore cryptocurrency investment scam.
The accused identified as Babita Kumar, who is a resident of New Delhi, has been arrested in the scam, a senior police officer from EOW confirmed.
Based on a tip-off, a team of EOW officials made a visit to Delhi and nabbed the accused earlier this week. The woman is one of the associates of a sham company which duped investors, according to the police officer.
The police officer informed that the complainant had in April registered a case against a company, Mytoken Wallet Trading Pvt Ltd, of having cheated the victim of Rs 7.5 lakh.
Explaining the modus operandi of the fraud company, the police officer said, "The accused lured the investors promising returns to the tune of anywhere between 15% and 150% if they invested money in this cryptocurrency. They extensively advertised their investment plans on social media to woo investors. After the investment was made into the cryptocurrency, the accused neither returned the invested amount nor did they return any promised returns to the investors," an officer claimed.
A senior police officer said that the investigation has so far revealed that the total amount cheated is around Rs 2.5 crore and the total number of investments duped is only increasing.
The accused was remanded in police custody for a week by a magistrate's court here, the police officer said.
The officer further appealed to investors of this cryptocurrency company to contact the EOW of Thane city police to record their complaints to carry out further investigation in the case.
An offence has been registered at Khadakada police station under sections 420 cheating, 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent and 34 of the Indian enal Code and under relevant sections of Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act.