4 fall prey to crypto fraud in Bengaluru, lose Rs 1.5 crore

BENGALURU: Four people lost more than Rs 1.5 crore to miscreants who lured them into investing money in cryptocurrency trade in return for a huge profit.
Whitefield CEN crime police have registered four separate cases in four days between January 2 and 5.
A 35-year-old teacher with a private school alleged that she and her husband lost Rs 60 lakh to the miscreants between November 5, 2022 and January 2, 2023.
S Ranjani, a resident of Bommanahalli, told police that on November 11, her husband Kishore's mobile number was added to a bitcoin trading group on Telegram app. One of the miscreants identified himself as Anna and asked the couple to download a video to learn about investing money in cryptocurrency trade and making profit. Soon after they downloaded the video, another miscreant contacted them over Telegram and WhatsApp. This time, the miscreant introduced herself as a representative of a Malaysia-based firm and asked the couple to invest Rs 5,000. The miscreants managed to convince the couple that investing more money will ensure a huge sum in return. The couple invested over Rs 60 lakh.
Software engineers targeted
In another case, a 28-year-old software engineer - Vinay S Hegde, a resident of Channasandra - claimed that he lost over Rs 59 lakh to the fraudsters.
Hegde told police that on October 10, 2022, a miscreant identifying herself as Lilly contacted him through WhatsApp. Lilly suggested he invest in cryptocurrency and asked him to download Binance app. Hegde followed Lilly's suggestion and invested nearly Rs 60,000. He was able to see his investment and profit only in his wallet ID, but was unable to withdraw a single rupee.
Another software engineer, Prakash Kannan, 44, a resident of Bommanahalli claimed that he lost Rs 29.5 lakh to the miscreants. He told police that the miscreants added his mobile number to a Telegram group, 'crypto expert miners', on November 8, 2022. They encouraged him to invest money in crypto currency and showed notional profit on the application. Kannan invested nearly Rs 30 lakh before realising that the miscreants had tricked him.
In another case, a private firm employee and resident of Agara, S Naveen, lost Rs 4,25,000 to the fraud. Here too, the miscreants approached him through the Telegram app (on December 28, 2022) and asked him to invest in cryptocurrency trade. Naveen transferred the money to the various bank accounts provided by the miscreants. He came to know that it was a fraud through his friends. On January 3, he approached police and filed a criminal case against the suspects.
Under police scanner
Whitefield CEN crime police have registered four separate cases and investigation has begun in all four.