The Indian police have dismantled a work-of-home scam that white flooded funds are laundered by cryptocurrency, in which five individuals are arrested, including a woman named Delhi’s ‘Crypto Queen’.
Summary
- Five people were arrested in Delhi for running a scam and money laundering via Crypto.
- The most important accused, called ‘Crypto Queen’, is said to be operated as a crypto handler without a permit using international channels.
- Crypto-related fraud cases rise throughout India in the midst of a lack of formal supervision of regulations.
According to local mediaThe accused led a telegram-based network that attracted victims to perform fake-online tasks, to extract payments on the pretext to unlock higher stimuli and ultimately to seduce the money through ungregulated cryptomanals.
The operation came to light after a 29-year-old woman from the Burari area of Delhi had filed a complaint and stated that she was cheated by more than £ 17.29 Lakh (about $ 20,000) while she was looking for online vacancies.
How did the scam worked?
The police of Delhi revealed that the victim was promised high committees to complete simple digital tasks. Initially, small payments created the illusion of legitimacy, but it was soon forced to make repeated transfers with the temptation of higher returns.
Without the knowledge of her, the fraudsters also abuse her identity to secure personal loans worth £ 8.8 lakh from banks.
Authorities claim that the funds were led via several “mule” bank accounts, eventually converted to USDT (Tether), a stablecoin linked to the US dollar.
These conversions were facilitated by members of the group who operated via coded platforms such as Telegram and WhatsApp, using international numbers to prevent detection.
Krish, a 19-year-old, was identified as the central figure who manage fund transfers. He has purchased bank account data and UPI IDs from employees and passed it to crypto buyers. The stolen funds were included in cash or transferred for crypto conversion.
Nidhi Agarwal, referred to in the group as the ‘crypto queen’, played a key role in money laundering by converting it in USDT.
She operated without any official license, bought Crypto from non -regulated suppliers and resold it with a profit. She used international numbers and online platforms to avoid local supervision, the police said.
In the meantime, Deepa and Gaurav, two other accused, helped to recruit account holders who were willing to borrow their bank accounts for transfers and also assisted in moving physical money.
Indian doctor loses more than $ 115k to crypto -crowds
With a separate incident reported During the weekend, a 56-year-old doctor from Kannamoola lost £ 1.01 (about $ 115,000) CRORE in a cryptocurrency romance scam.
The scam, who unfolded between January and May this year, concerned a woman who occurred as a colleague doctor and contacted the victim via WhatsApp and claimed that she had made a considerable profit through crypto -trade.
Initially, the victim received attractive returns, so he invested more. However, when the doctor tried to record funds, he was told to pay 30% of the profit as an income tax in the US.
No crypto instructions in India
These incidents have rewinded the concern about the lack of an extensive regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies in India. In the absence of regulations, criminals exploit lacunes in supervision.
Despite the ruling of the 2020 Supreme Court, which is destroying the earlier bank prohibition of the Reserve Bank of India on Crypto, little progress has been made when formulating clear guidelines to control the sector.
The reserve Bank of India continues to oppose private cryptocurrencies and warns that they are the risk of monetary policy and financial stability.
Instead, the tax authorities of India have doubled with enforcement. The income tax department has launched several campaigns that are aimed at crypto-related tax evasion.
Crypto winsts in India are taxed on a flat 30% on the basis of section 115BBH of the Income Tax Act, with another 1% TDS on transactions. Although taxation has brought some visibility for crypto transactions, the absence of licenses, monitoring and consumer protection can thrive bad actors.
