Bengaluru: In just 3 months, company executive loses Rs 30 lakh after ‘crypto trading’

Bengaluru: In three months, a 34-year-old private company executive from Bengaluru lost over Rs 30 lakh after falling for a fake cryptocurrency investment scheme.

According to the police, the victim Pranav Lal (name changed), a resident of Lingarajapuram, first found “Bakkt Online” on December 25, 2024, via Google as he “was interested in crypto trading”.

Assuming the platform to be genuine, Lal began investing in it in January 2025. He was in contact with the platform through a WhatsApp number shared on their website and was given access to an online cryptocurrency wallet to show his gains and losses.

“For every Rs 50,000, I received 500 USDT (Rs 42,304) to be used for cryptocurrency trading of various coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.,” he told the police.

“I had invested and started trading from January 2025 to March 2025. The wallet showed that I am making profits, which were just virtually appearing in my wallet, and I never withdrew the same, as I was accumulating it for three months,” he added.

At the end of March, the wallet showed that Lal had made a profit of around 1,00,000 USDT (Rs 84,60,868). He then applied to withdraw 71,000 USDT (Rs 60,07,216) from it.

However, he was asked to pay “taxes” for such a large withdrawal. While hesitating initially, Lal sent the scamsters Rs 15.32 lakh after they insisted on the payment, allowing him to withdraw his earnings.

He was subsequently asked to shell out more money in the form of taxes and exchange fees, and he ended up losing Rs 30,18,934 in total. In the meantime, the online wallet showed that 71,000 USDT was withdrawn while nothing was credited to his bank account.

“While I tried to reach them via email, there was no response, and later, when I approached the real Bakkt website, they informed me that they have no details of my ID, and I am not registered under them,” Lal told the police.

A case was registered on April 15 under relevant sections of the IT Act and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Investigators are currently examining the money trail and the bank account to trace the crime proceeds.