India is working on digitising every component of the country including payments. With various inventions, digital currencies have also been developed, and one of the widely used digital currencies is cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrencies are as real as our usual form of money but just virtual. But every developmental measure paves the way for new criminal activities as well.
There have been innumerable instances of crypto fraud ranging from Ponzi schemes to investment frauds. This is now under the radar of investigative agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Both of the agencies have been working extensively since the past week on reducing the instances of crypto fraud and catching scammers red-handed to impart justice.
Read the article to learn what exactly are crypto fraud, cases of crypto fraud, and the potential plans of SBI and ED.
Rising Crypto Frauds
India has been observing a huge surge in the instances of crypto frauds wherein victims lose their precious resources. Because of this increase, various investigative agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have been working extensively since the past week with multiple raids and freezing of assets.
1. GainBitcoin Scam Scheme Of CBI
GainBitcoin was a Ponzi scheme organised by the (late) Amit Bhardwaj and Ajay Bhardwaj along with their team in the year 2015. The GainBitcoin Scam scheme operated along multiple websites under the name of a company called Variabletech Pvt. Ltd.
The Ponzi scheme offered monthly returns of 10% in Bitcoin for around 18 months. The scam scheme also convinced people to purchase Bitcoin from exchanges and then invest the same in GainBitcoin through cloud mining contracts. Usually, such Ponzi schemes follow a Multi-level Marketing (MLM) model wherein returns are dependent on the number of new investors.
How Did The CBI Solve The Case?
With time, as people realised that they might have invested in a scam scheme, multiple FIRs were registered in various states/UTs like Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Delhi, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Karnataka. On the orders of the Supreme Court, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) led the investigation.
The CBI started with searches wherein they found some crypto wallets, incriminating digital evidence (emails and clouds), and digital devices. They conducted a wide search covering 60 locations across India including major cities like Delhi-NCR, Pune Nanded, Kolhapur, Bengaluru, etc., and eventually caught the two primary scammers.
2. Money Trail Tracing Case Of ED
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) came across a Money Trail Tracing Case worth around 600 crore. The case began in connection with the conversion of Crypto worth 600 crores at several Indian Crypto Exchanges and the further transfer of funds to the beneficiaries of the scam scheme.
How Did The ED Solve The Case?
The ED began its investigation by raiding several locations in various cities like Jaipur, Delhi, and Mumbai for FEMA violations. They eventually found out that with the help of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) tactics, whenever someone searches the focus website, the spoofed website will automatically appear on the top.
The users would log in to the spoofed website but the credentials would appear as wrong due to which they were forced to contact the website. The call would be redirected to the call centre managed by Chirag Tomar. As soon as the fraudsters got access to the victims’ accounts, they started transferring the cryptocurrencies to another account to sell them on websites like localbitcoins.com to further convert them into Rupees at Indian Crypto Exchanges.
The money would eventually end up in the pockets of Chirag Tomar and his family. They organised a scam and earned around 15 crores. ED froze their bank accounts wherein around 2.18 crores have been frozen so far.
As of now, both investigative agencies are working on finding and establishing an accurate map of shell companies, offshore accounts, and almost fraudulent crypto exchanges to break the network of scammers.
How To Stay Safe From Such Scams?
With the rising number of cases of crypto fraud, people must adopt some preventive ways for their safety against such fraudulent activities such as:
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Keep yourself educated and updated with related news.
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Only invest in reputed and recognised crypto exchanges.
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Avoid clicking or downloading any suspicious or unknown files.
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Enable two-factor authentication on all your crypto accounts.
Conclusion
The Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation are committed to reducing the instances of crypto fraud and catching fraudsters to impart justice to the victims of such criminal acts.
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