Worried over the rising case of cryptocurrency frauds, the Himachal Pradesh government on Monday decided to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe such cases.
“The SIT will be headed by Abhishek Dullar, DIG (Northern Range) and other experts in this field so that all such complaints can be looked into,” said Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, while replying to a query by Dehra MLA Hoshiyar Singh.
Agnihotri said the rise in cases of cryptocurrency fraud is being reported globally and nationally. “In the desire to make quick bucks, people are falling prey to such allurements by fraudsters. A total of 56 complaints have been received in the cyber police stations in the past two years. Six first information reports (FIR) have been registered and five arrests have been made, which includes three people from HP and two from Punjab,” he said.
Three cyber police stations have been set up at Shimla, Mandi and Kangra to check cryptocurrency crimes, Agnihotri said.
Hoshiyar Singh, while highlighting the severity of the cryptocurrency scams, said almost Rs 200 crore each in Kangra and Hamirpur districts have been swindled. “A total of 425 persons are involved in this fraud and Rs 10 crore alone have been taken from my constituents of Dehra alone,” he said.
He said poor people are being lured, promising that their money will be doubled in eight months, especially in Kangra, Una and Hamirpur districts.
The MLA said that gullible people of the state were being targeted by sophisticated online scamsters and detailed modus operandi of such gangs need to be unraveled to get to the bottom of such a scam. “It is imperative that experts are roped in to track down those behind the fraud,” the MLA said.