3 men held from Rajasthan for running cryptocurrency investment scam in Gurugram: Police

Gurugram, Dec 25 (PTI) Gurugram Police have arrested three men from Rajasthan for allegedly cheating people here by luring them into fake cryptocurrency investment schemes through social media platforms, officials said on Thursday.

The accused used advertisements promising high returns on investments and also targeted people by promising them work-from-home jobs, police said.

According to the police, acting on a complaint filed by a local on March 3 stating that he was defrauded by an online cryptocurrency scam, an FIR was registered at the cybercrime police station.

While investigating, police raided a hideout of the accused in Rajasthan's Dausa district on Tuesday and arrested three of the accused red-handed while they were engaged in cyber fraud.

The arrested accused were identified as Vijendra (23), resident of village Kankaria, Dilkhush (21) and Vivek Kumar (18), residents of village Bagdi in district Dausa in Rajasthan, said police.

"During interrogation, the accused revealed that out of the defrauded amount, Rs 73,556 was transferred to Vijendra's bank account. Vijendra sold this bank account to Dilkhush for Rs 10,000," police said.

Dilkhush further sold this account to Vivek for Rs 20,000.

To dupe people, they advertised work-from-home opportunities, cryptocurrency investment schemes on Instagram, Facebook and sent links on WhatsApp and Telegram groups.

ACP Cyber Priyanshu Dewan said that when someone clicked on the advertisements, they would be asked to pay Rs 499 as fees, and the accused would cheat them of larger amounts in the name of investments.

Further investigation into the case is underway, police added. PTI COR HIG HIG