Legal enforcement in India has arrested five suspects who reportedly have anesthetized a businessman of around $ 700,000 through a fake cryptocurrency trade platform.
According to Local mediaThe five suspects, including one woman, were taken into custody after an investigation by the cyber crime wing of Odisha’s Crime Branch.
Allegedly the accused ran a scam using a fake -trading app called Zaif, where they promised enormous returns of up to 200% on investments in digital currency. The trading platform was promoted as being in Japan.
It is worth noting that Zaif is the name of a legitimate Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, which in 2022 a hack of $ 60 million suffering. However, the platform that is used in this scam is probably not affiliated and only lends the name to seem credible.
The fraud started when the victim, an Indian businessman, was contacted on Facebook by a woman who claimed to be an IBM software developer established in Hong Kong.
She got his confidence and convinced him to invest in Crypto via Zaif. He spent more than a month more than INR 6 Crore (around $$ 699,352) about different accounts that are checked by the scammers.
As usual, in such crypto -trading scam, the victim was initially shown fake win on the platform to build trust. However, when the victim tried to pull up a profit, the platform demanded an extra INR 89 LAKH to unlock the funds – a tactic that is usually called an advance fraud.
As soon as the victim refused, the scammers and cut contact disappeared.
The police have detected the suspects via digital paths and bank details. Authorities have seized telephones, SIM cards, ID documents and other burdensome materials during a raid.
With cryptocurrencies that are still working in a gray area, India remains a hotspot for scams and fraud focused on unsuspecting users. Earlier this month, the police set a similar scam that promoted a fake smoke called RSN and promised 2% daily returns. Losses were estimated at $ 1.14 and $ 2.29 million.
