A 65-year-old businessman from Powai, Mumbai, has reported losing ₹52 lakh in a sophisticated Bitcoin scam allegedly orchestrated by a woman posing as his friend from Japan on Facebook. The West Cyber police initially received his complaint but later transferred it to the Andheri police station as the defrauded amount was less than ₹1 crore. A case has been registered against the woman and her accomplices.
Police said the fraud took place over a month, during which the accused built a false sense of trust through regular interaction on social media. According to the complaint, businessman received a Facebook friend request in June from a profile displaying a woman’s photograph and claiming to work with a multinational company in Hong Kong. Trusting the profile, businessman accepted the request, and their conversations soon moved to Messenger and phone calls. Her soft-spoken nature helped gain his confidence. She claimed she would soon join the company’s cryptocurrency trading platform in Japan as a manager and often spoke about the high returns possible from Bitcoin investments.
Initially hesitant, the businessman was gradually persuaded. She sent him a link to register on what appeared to be a legitimate trading platform and shared bank account details for transfers. Between late June and July 17, he invested ₹52 lakh. The platform displayed a virtual balance of ₹10.3 crore, creating the impression of huge profits.
When businessman attempted to withdraw the amount, she demanded a 30 percent tax payment first. This raised suspicion, and after consulting relatives, businessman realised the platform and its operators were fraudulent. He contacted the national cybercrime helpline before lodging a formal complaint.
Andheri police have booked the accused under several sections of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, including cheating, cheating by personation, forgery, using forged electronic documents, and criminal conspiracy.
Investigators are now analysing transaction records to trace the suspects and identify the network behind the fraud. Authorities believe this operation is linked to a larger cybercrime syndicate using cryptocurrency’s anonymity and social engineering tactics to target victims.
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