ED attaches assets worth Rs 21.7 crore of cyber fraud accused Chirag Tomar, his associates

New Delhi, Nov 12 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 21.71 crore, including nine properties in Delhi, belonging to Chirag Tomar, his family and associates in connection with a scam in which USD 20 million in cryptocurrency was siphoned off using spoofed websites, officials said Wednesday.

The investigation was started on the basis of a newspaper report that an Indian national, Tomar, was arrested in the USA for stealing more than USD 20 million through the use of fake or spoofed websites mimicking the cryptocurrency exchange website Coinbase.

The agency has provisionally attached the assets of Tomar and his associates, named Rahul Anand, Akash Vaish and Piyush Prashar.

The total attachment in the case so far stands at Rs. 64.15 crore, ED said in a statement.

"The investigation revealed that Chirag Tomar, currently in custody in USA, was involved in a large-scale cyber fraud by spoofing the website of the cryptocurrency exchange 'Coinbase' and stealing cryptocurrency," it said.

The anti-money laundering agency found that the trusted websites were spoofed in such a way that when anyone searched for Coinbase, the fake website would appear at the top, the statement said.

The spoofed website appeared exactly similar to the trusted website, except for the contact details. When the users would enter the login credentials, the fake website would show it wrong, it said.

"Therefore, the users would contact the number given in the spoofed website which would eventually connect them to the calls managed by Chirag Tomar and his associates. Once the fraudsters gained access to the victim's accounts, the fraudsters quickly transferred the victim's cryptocurrency holdings to crypto currency wallets under their control," it said.

The stolen cryptocurrency would then be sold on various P2P crypto platforms and converted to INR, it said.

The ED found that the money was transferred into the bank accounts of Tomar, his family members and his associates' accounts and used to buy immovable properties.

"Tomar was arrested by USA authorities while entering USA in December 2023," it said. PTI ABS AMJ AMJ