India has been facing a surge in crypto scams for a few months. The Central Crime Branch(CCB) officials of the country busted a crypto racket and arrested four people.
A team of officials led by DCP S.D. Sharanappa, following a complaint tracked down the accused and arrested them. They also recovered Rs17 crore worth of valuables.
The accused were also found with several mobile phones and laptops, which were seized by the police to further investigate the depth of their crimes.
The scam started in 2021 when an app called Sharehash was launched. The accused also approached people on Whatsapp and via messages. They were selling helium crypto tokens in exchange for high returns.
The accused also lured the investors into buying crypto mining machines, so that they could keep track of their investments and receive alerts for mining rewards.
To avoid detection, the criminals opened five different companies around the country and received thousands of rupees of investments into those company’s accounts. They then withdrew the app from Google Playstore saying that it will be relaunched with an update.
The accused then vanished. Since the arrest, the crime branch has been tracking 44 other bank account details which belong to those detained. To reward the crime branch for their excellent work, a prize of Rs. 70,000 has been announced for the team by the city’s Police Commissioner Kamal Pant.
Crypto scams have become a massive problem in India. A few days ago, a pharma executive lost Rs 22 lakhs to a crypto scam executed by his business partner and three of his aides.
Lack of knowledge regarding this industry can be blamed for such massive losses incurred by the citizens. Indians visited crypto scam sites almost 9.6 million times in 2021. A widespread crypto adoption as well as education policy is required to protect the country’s citizens.
