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A 44-year-old resident of the Kalyan-Nagar area in Bangalore, India, voluntarily transferred over 19 billion Indian Rupees (approximately 2.1 million USDT) to fraudsters. The individual believed he was exchanging stablecoins for fiat currency.
Initially, the unknown individuals contacted him, expressing interest in purchasing USDT. They then informed him that for the transaction, his Tron wallet address needed to undergo verification through a KYC (know your customer) process and directed him to a phishing site, Trontag.org. Trusting the legitimacy of the verification, the crypto holder clicked the link and entered his information.
Immediately afterward, 2,104,089 USDT were automatically transferred from the man’s wallet to the fraudsters’ wallets—without any further confirmation from the victim. The scammers utilized a smart contract that enabled the transfer of funds without the victim’s knowledge, as explained by Indian law enforcement.
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During the investigation, authorities were able to identify the suspects, three citizens of India. The investigation suggests that the suspects operated in an organized manner and deceived multiple victims across the country using a similar scheme. Law enforcement speculated that there may have been additional participants in the scheme.
The fraudsters capitalized on recent news: in January, India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) announced plans to tighten user registration rules and the KYC process on crypto platforms to combat money laundering through cryptocurrencies.
Previously, a veteran of the Indian Air Force lost over $25,000 after falling for online scammers who promised him bonuses for investing in cryptocurrencies.
