Cryptocurrency fraud: Navi Mumbai cyber police freeze bank accounts worth Rs 32.66 crore

Thane: The Navi Mumbai cyber police conducting the probe into a cryptocurrency fraud have frozen several bank accounts involving amounts worth Rs 32.66 crore, an official said on Wednesday.

Senior police inspector Gajanan Kadam of the cyber police station in Navi Mumbai said they received a cheating complaint in August from a man who claimed to have invested more than Rs 6.6 crore in cryptocurrency trading.

The man stated in the complaint that a woman caller befriended him and later asked him to invest in cryptocurrency trading while assuring good returns.

As the complainant started investing huge amounts, he received a total of Rs 75 lakh in returns on various occasions, but later stopped getting the same, the official said.

An offence in this connection was registered with the cyber police under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act.

A police probe team enquired with various banks where the money was paid by the complainant and as a first step, got accounts involving amounts worth Rs 32,66,12,091 frozen over the last few weeks, the official said.

Based on several leads, the probe team in the last week of September zeroed-in on two persons from Ghatkopar in neighbouring Mumbai.

The police later arrested the two persons, identified as Balu Sakharam Khandagale (42) and Rajendra Ramkhilavan Patel (52), the official said.

During the probe, it was revealed that the arrested persons had handed over mobile numbers, bank account details, cheque books and ATM cards of various persons to others involved in the crime.

Efforts are on to nab the others involved in the crime, the police added.