Two Mumbai residents, a homemaker and a doctor, were defrauded of a total of approximately INR 20 lakh in two separate incidents in a cryptocurrency fraud. In the first incident, a 53-year-old homemaker from Kandivali discovered that her phone number had been added to a Bitcoin trading WhatsApp group in December 2022. The group had at least 250 members. She saw admins and some other members on the group provide advice on how to invest money in bitcoin trading that would yield profits. Then she was contacted by a person who claimed that he could help her.
She was then made to download the "LON App". Soon enough, she was added to another group on WhatsApp. This time it was about how to yield profits from cryptocurrencies. Eventually, she invested money in cryptocurrencies as per the group administrator's instructions. She was even made to create a virtual account on another app, where all her money and profits would get transferred.
The woman supposedly earned $28,480 on January 26, 2023, but when she tried to withdraw it, her request was denied, and she was asked to pay 30% tax to the Indian government. She paid USD 8,545 (about INR 7,43,415) until February 8, and then her instructor vanished, leading to a total loss of INR 13,10,000. A complaint has been registered at Kandivali police station.
In a second incident, a 28-year-old doctor from Bandra lost INR. 6.23 lakh in cryptocurrency fraud. He invested it on the advice of homoeopathic doctor Prathmesh Alsundekar. The doctor invested in a cryptocurrency that would be released in October 2022.
Alsundekar introduced him to investment agent Shrikant Mawalkar, who informed the complainant that BigBull, a cryptocurrency, will emerge in October, and that coins worth INR 34 can be purchased for INR 17. The complainant was informed that a substantial profit could be made after the cryptocurrency was launched.
The complainant first sent INR 50,000 to Mawalkar using GPay and then invested INR 6.23 lakh. Mawalkar claimed that he was unable to sell the cryptocurrency since it had not yet been listed, and the coin's value at the time of its debut and listing was only 10 paise. The complainant was cheated using a fake website called bigbull.com. The Bandra police have filed a fraud case against Alsundekar, Mawalkar, and Shinde in response to the doctor's accusation.
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