The doctor made the payment, said police, adding that the fraudsters then sent her another link and asked her to download it. (Representational/File)A 33-year-old doctor with a government hospital has been allegedly duped of Rs 80,000 on the pretext of getting high returns from investments in cryptocurrency.
The victim — a resident of Marine Drive — alleged in her complaint that on November 11, she came across a post on a friend’s Instagram saying, “I invested 500 in bitcoin mining with @audrea_fx_mccall and I got 5,700 profit in just five hours, made a withdrawal successfully.”
“I followed the Instagram account and texted that I wanted to invest. The account user replied that they will guide me,” the victim told police. The account user asked the doctor to at least invest Rs 40,000 in cryptocurrency, and after verifying it with the friend (who had made the Instagram post), the victim sent the money to the account holder through Google Pay.
“I transferred the money around 10.41 am on November 11, after which the account user sent me a link. When I opened the link and logged in… my name, the amount I invested, and the profit — about $5,700 — appeared on the screen,” said the doctor. The profit amount remained the same till 5pm that day. “However, the link stopped opening after some time, and when I asked the account user about it, they asked me to pay a fee of Rs 40,000 for the first withdrawal.”
The doctor made the payment, said police, adding that the fraudsters then sent her another link and asked her to download it. “It showed that she had earned a profit of $10,678. She was told that if she wanted to withdraw it, she would have to pay Rs 80,000 more,” said a police official, requesting anonymity.
That is when the doctor realised that she was being duped, following which she filed a complaint at the Marine Drive police station, and a case was registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code on Friday.