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Scammers defrauded two elderly Indian residents out of more than $380,000. The scammers convinced their victims to invest in a fake platform for trading stocks and cryptocurrencies.
According to the complaints filed with the police, the first victim lost more than 2.58 crore rupees (about $310,000) while the other gave away 63.15 lakh rupees ($76,000) to the scammers. The first victim said that he was contacted by the administrator of the AP Helping Hand India telegram channel. The administrator introduced himself as Aman Kumar and offered to make money, promising high profits from transactions with cryptocurrencies.
According to the victim, he agreed to the offer and paid a registration fee of 8,500 rupees ($100) in September. After payment, the man was asked to download the Base crypto wallet application using the link provided by the scammers. The criminals also asked the victim to share personal and banking details before investing and then took control of the defrauded Indian’s account.
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The scammers showed the newly minted crypto investor a page with a balance of $5.48 million in order to convince them to deposit larger amounts on the platform. From September 4 to December 27, the user transferred $310,000 to crypto scammers. Then he tried several times to withdraw money from the account, but all attempts were unsuccessful – even after paying the “additional taxes” required to withdraw funds. When the scammers demanded another $96,000, the man realized that he had been deceived and reported the incident to the police.
The second victim was another pensioner, a former bank manager. He was contacted via WhatsApp by a certain man who introduced himself as a stock broker from the USA. An unknown person tricked the pensioner into registering on a fake platform, where the victim first invested $16 300, and then increased his investment to $76,000. Having lost all his savings, the Indian realized that he had become a victim of fraud and also contacted the police.
Indian police said the criminals specifically targeted older people because they knew virtually nothing about cryptocurrencies. The victims were looking for a way to increase their savings, so they easily fell into the trap of scammers.
A few years ago, the Indian government launched a campaign to raise awareness about cryptocurrencies and the risks of investing in these volatile assets. Recently, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Directorate of India filed a case against 4th Bloc Consultants, accusing it of creating fake crypto platforms.
