International & National Agencies Coordinating Probe against Cryptocurrency Fraud, 76 locations raided: CBI
An SIT constituted by the Himachal Pradesh Government against cybercrime of cryptocurrency in the state recently moreover CBI also taking a parallel probe to supplement the SIT as searches regarding the crime have also been conducted in Himachal Pradesh along with many other states and union territory at 76 locations today
A press release issued by the CBI said that the CBI has launched Operation Chakra-II, aiming to combat and dismantle the infrastructure of organized cyber-enabled financial crimes in India.
A SIT was constituted by Himachal Pradesh Government on September 24 on the issue was raised by an MLA in the state assembly.
DIG Northern rang Abhishek Dullar is heading 12 members of SITs two accused including Subhash Sharma and Amit Kumar are fleeing and hiding abroad. Eight FIRs were also lodged by SIT in cryptocurrency fraud of Rs 200 Crore.
Mr. Dullar has also recently stated that it was taking assistance from Interpol and CBI to the deportation of fugitives running away from the country before SIT could take against them.
Two accused involved in the cryptocurrency frauds belonging to Mandi district were nabbed from Gujarat recently now SIT is seeking assistance from CBI and Interpol in the matter.
This operation was conducted in collaboration with national and international agencies, alongside private sector giants by CBI on Thursday.
During a nationwide crackdown, the CBI conducted intensive searches in five separate cases at 76 locations across multiple states, including Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Bihar, Delhi, West Bengal, and Himachal Pradesh.
In the wake of Operation Chakra-II, 32 mobile phones, 48 laptops/hard disks, images of two servers, 33 SIM cards, and pen drives were confiscated and numerous bank accounts were frozen. CBI also seized a dump of 15 email accounts, illuminating the intricate web of deceit spun by the accused.
Among the cases targeted under Operation Chakra-II, two instances of the International Tech Support Fraud Scam came to light. In these cases, the accused impersonated a global IT major and a multinational corporation with an online technology-driven trading platform.
The accused, operating several call centers across 5 States/UTs, systematically preyed on foreign nationals, masquerading as Technical Support Representatives. It was alleged that the fraudulent activities associated with these centers had persisted over the past five years, with the perpetrators employing various international payment gateways and channels to facilitate the movement of illicitly acquired funds.
The cases have been registered on complaints against 08 private companies and others on said allegations.
Furthermore, Operation Chakra-II, fueled by critical intelligence from Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-India), cracked a sophisticated crypto-currency fraud operation.
This audacious scheme, under the guise of a fake crypto mining operation, allegedly targeted unsuspecting Indian citizens, resulting in a staggering loss of over Rs. 100 crore to Indian victims.
The fraudsters developed a fictitious cryptocurrency token, enticing investors with promises of substantial returns from investments in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency mining.
The accused created a website using the image of a renowned Indian American Crypto Technologist, misleading investors into believing their funds would be used to purchase mining machines.
The profits generated from minted cryptocurrencies would purportedly be distributed among the investors. The app operated until August 2021, during which unsuspecting Indian citizens invested through various payment gateways and aggregators integrated into the app.
Initially, the investors were allegedly given returns to gain their trust, but all payments ceased after August 2021. The accused have amassed approximately Rs. 168.75 crore (approx.) through the services of a payment aggregator, leaving the investors in financial distress.
The fraudsters even developed dedicated applications to further deceive their victims. During the investigation, 150 accounts were identified which included accounts of 46 shell companies, 42 proprietorship firms & 50 individual accounts, serving as conduits for collecting funds from the public, laundering the received funds, and transferring them to the ultimate beneficiaries.
A majority of these funds were allegedly channeled through dormant shell companies and personal savings and current accounts. This case was registered against two private companies, their Directors, and unknown others.
The CBI is working closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the USA, the Cyber Crime Directorate, and IFCACC of INTERPOL, the National Crime Agency (NCA) in the United Kingdom, the Singapore Police Force, and BKA of Germany to notify further leads.
Earlier, in 2022, CBI initiated Operation CHAKRA, an INTERPOL-assisted Global Action to combat and dismantle Organized Cyber-enabled Financial Crime Networks. Rapid international proliferation of organized cyber-enabled financial crimes with victims, accused, suspects, and conspirators located across international jurisdictions, requires a globally coordinated law enforcement response.
These increasingly sophisticated crimes include crimes like impersonation scams, mail scams, phishing scams, romance scams, lottery scams, etc.
Large numbers of innocent victims end up losing huge amounts to such scamsters. These organized criminals have global footprints and deploy advanced techniques including data harvesting, customized messages, money mules, remote access software, call center model of operation, etc.
Many police officers and a jawan of Himachal are among the victims of cryptocurrency scams. NDA government imposed heavy GST on investment in international cryptocurrencies a team of the Union Finance Ministry has submitted a report on the cryptocurrencies and their operations.
The cryptocurrencies were given recognition in some countries but the national banking finance companies are already less trusted in India the role of cryptocurrencies couldn’t be trusted in the given scenario.
The allurement multiplying investment are taking mushrooming growth of number cryptocurrencies in the hill states who are making victims of many gullible people.
