The cybercrime unit of Hyderabad police on Saturday arrested a fraudster who duped an individual of ₹8.5 lakh in a cryptocurrency fraud via his digital buying and selling platform.
The accused, recognized as S. Ramakrishna Reddy, 41, was traced to Anna Nagar, Chennai. He was working a cryptocurrency alternate, Bitcoin India Software program Providers Pvt. Ltd., below the guise of a official buying and selling platform via Bitcoin India Wallet and Exchange utility and web site.
The case got here to gentle when a 35-year-old resident of Jubilee Hills lodged a criticism stating that he bought 2,56,416 items of Siacoin (SC) price ₹8,49,585, via the Bitcoin India platform. Nevertheless, his account was immediately suspended for unspecified causes and marked as being below evaluate. The sufferer managed to regain entry to his account solely to search out his stability and portfolio cleaned, displaying zero funds and an overdue standing. Regardless of repeated makes an attempt to hunt clarification from Bitcoin India’s buyer assist, he was knowledgeable that his funds had been deducted as a ‘upkeep payment’.
Investigation revealed that Reddy alongside along with his brother devised a scheme to defraud cryptocurrency merchants via their firm. They lured buyers into buying cryptocurrency, solely to later seize their funds below the pretext of upkeep costs. When prospects tried to achieve out for help, they went incommunicado.
Following the case, the police suggested customers to obtain purposes solely from official sources such because the Google Play Retailer or Apple App Retailer and confirm deposit addresses earlier than transferring funds as scammers usually manipulate transaction particulars via malware.
Printed – February 22, 2025 09:02 pm IST
