Bengaluru: Lured by a woman on a matrimonial platform, a 30-year-old man lost over Rs 17 lakh after investing in a dubious cryptocurrency trading software.
The victim Krishna Das (name changed), a resident of Ejipura and employed in a private firm, met the suspect in November 2023.
Investment scam
Das told the police that the woman introduced herself as Ishita Reddy and initiated contact with him. The suspect was allegedly in touch with the victim for nearly three months via two phone numbers with the country codes of the United Kingdom before she brought up the topic of investment.
After they both got acquainted, the suspect inquired Das about his investment appetite recently. She allegedly explained to him about investing in www.deuncoin.com to earn great profits. As per ICANN Lookup, the website was registered on August 26, 2023, and Scam Adviser gave it a 1/100 trust score.
While initially reluctant, Das agreed to proceed as the suspect continued to goad him. Das registered on the website and installed the Deuncoin app.
Next, a user ID was generated and Das received another call: this time from someone claiming to be from Deuncoin’s customer care.
Between January 20 and January 30, Das wired Rs 17,07,000 to two AU Small Finance Bank accounts and two IndusInd Bank accounts. The app showed the investments in USDT (Tether) cryptocurrency.
When the time came for withdrawal, Das alleged that he was asked to invest more in USDT. Realising that he was conned, Das approached the Central Cyber Economic and Narcotics (CEN) Crime police station on January 8.
A case was registered under Sections 66D (punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resources) of the Information Technology (IT) Act and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Cybercrime investigators have begun the probe and have sought transaction details from the respective banks.
Published 12 February 2024, 21:08 IST