The accused collected over 316 Bitcoins, police said.
New Delhi:
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has unearthed a cryptocurrency scam, in which three individuals collected Bitcoins worth Rs 260 crore through fraudulent means from senior citizens in the US and Canada, the federal agency said.
All the three accused have been arrested. On Friday, the CBI also filed its charge sheet in the case.
In a statement, the federal agency said the accused – Tushar Kharbanda, Gaurav Malik and Ankit Jain – mostly posed as representatives from foreign law enforcement agencies, Amazon support, Microsoft tech support and other services, and targeted senior citizens from the US and Canada.
They collected over 316 Bitcoins in their Bitcoin wallets, which were converted and withdrawn by their gang members in Dubai.
Kharbanda, the prime accused, ran the criminal syndicate with his associates through fake call centres in Delhi and Noida. “The centres, managed by Kharbanda and Malik, employed over 150 tele-callers,” the statement said.
The federal agency cited an instance in which Kharbanda posed as an officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and convinced a victim that his identity was being misused for fraudulent purposes.
“Under duress, the victim was coerced into transferring over 93,000 Canadian Dollars into cryptocurrency via Bitcoin ATMs in Canada, all of which were linked to Kharbanda and his associate’s cryptocurrency wallets,” the statement said.
Jain played a key role in managing the crypto wallets and assisting Kharbanda in converting the Bitcoins.
The CBI said the action was initiated on the basis of information provided by the RCMP through the National Central Bureau, a country’s focal point for all Interpol activities.
During the course of investigation, the CBI raided the residential and official premises of the accused and the digital devices seized revealed scripts for several fraud schemes, including the impersonation of US Social Security Administration officers and fraudulent interactions with fraud prevention departments. The devices also contained credentials of US victims, providing further evidence on the modus operandi and extent of operation by the accused, the statement said.
The federal agency said it had earlier registered a case under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act.
