The Enforcement Directorate (ED), India’s premier financial investigation agency, conducted raids in multiple cities in connection with Rs 600 crore cryptocurrency conversion fraud case and froze assets worth Rs 2.5 crore belonging to the accused Chirag Tomar. Tomar is currently serving a five year prison sentence in U.S.
According to a recent tweet by ED on X (formerly Twitter ), the agency has carried out search
operations on 20th February 25, under the provision of FEMA,1999 in Delhi, Jaipur and Mumbai in a cryptocurrency fraud pertaining to the conversion of cryptocurrency worth around 600 crore at various Indian crypto exchanges and the subsequent transfer of the funds to the beneficiaries.
“Several bank accounts pertaining to the Tomar family were freezed during the course of search operation. The amount freezed so far stands at Rs. 2.18 Crore,” said ED in a statement.
What is the Rs 600 crore Crypto Conversion Fraud Case?
In October 2024, Tomar was convicted by a US district judge in Charlotte, North Carolina, for using a spoof or fraudulent website that imitated Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, to steal over $20 million from hundreds of victims.
According to a statement released by the US attorney’s office in October 2024, Tomar utilized the money from the victims to maintain his extravagant lifestyle, right from buying luxuries cars like Lamborghini, Porsches to owning premium watches like Audemars Piguet, along with vacationing to places like Dubai, Thailand and such other places.
Tomar was arrested at the Atlanta airport on 20th December 2023, upon entering the US, and pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy. ED launched a probe under the foreign exchange management act (FEMA) after Tomar’s sentencing in the US.
As per ED, trusted websites were spoofed in a way that when the website would be searched the spoofed website would appear on top, “ The spoofed website appeared similar to the trusted website except the contact details.
ED added, “ when users entered the login credentials, the spoofed website would show it wrong, so the users would contact the given number in the spoofed website which would eventually connect them to the designated call center managed by Chirag Tomar”
ED said, once the fraudsters gained the access to the victim’s account they quickly transferred the victims cryptocurrency holdings to crypto currency wallets under their control. “ The stolen cryptocurrency would then be sold on a website named, –localbitcoins.com– and converted into Indian rupee at Indian Crypto exchanges.
Tomar and his family received Rs 15 crore, which the ED has tracked down. ED said, “ Several bank accounts pertaining to the Tomar family have been frozen during the searches including deposits of Rs. 2.18 crore kept in them.
Alongside, ED found that a similar modus of selling doubtful crypto on local bitcoins and its conversion to Indian rupee on Indian crypto exchanges was unearthed during the search operation.
Also Read: ED seizes ₹1646 cr worth of Crypto from Ahmedabad man in BitConnect Scam
