Ahmedabad, April 2: A 42-year-old man from Gujarat's Vejalpur was allegedly defrauded of Rs 29.90 lakh by fraudsters in a cryptocurrency scam. The alleged incident came to light after the victim, Sandip Fadia, lodged a police complaint. In his complaint, the victim said that he was duped by a woman named Priya Agrawal, who contacted him via WhatsApp in October last year.

According to a report in the Times of India, Fadia works as a manager at an electrical appliance showroom. The complainant told cops that after being contacted by the woman, she introduced him to cryptocurrency investment that specifically dealt in USDT (US dollar tether). Gujarat Crypto-Currency Scam: ED Attaches Assets Worth Rs 433 Crore of Divyesh Darji, Others.

Fadia further said that Agrawal shared links to three websites with him. The website was branded "deuncoin". On her guidance, Fadia invested Rs 1 lakh on October 26, 2023. Later, he was shown a profit of Rs 7,000 on the website. Fadia also said that between October 26 and December 21, 2023, he invested a total of Rs 29.90 lakh.

However, Fadia realised he was cheated when he was asked to pay an additional Rs 18.64 lakh as a tax amount. Post this, he approached the Cybercrime police and lodged a complaint against the fraudster. Acting on his complaint, the Cybercrime police registered a case against an unknown person under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant charges of the Information Technology Act. Cryptocurrency Romance Scam in US: Indian Woman Techie Loses Life Savings, Retirement Funds to Con Artist She Met Online in Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, the police have launched an investigation to track down the fraudsters of the cryptocurrency investment fraud.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 02, 2024 08:42 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).