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Cryptocurrency scams just seem to be an everyday thing as of late, and the latest scam news involving digital money is arriving out of India.
Is India Home to a Large Crypto Scam?
The country’s Special Task Force (STF) says it has made three arrests in what is turning out to be a very large case of cryptocurrency fraud. The people arrested include Rakesh Kumar Singh, Bittu Yadav and Pradeep Dev. All three have been charged with digital theft. The suspects hail from a region of Bihar in India.
Among the evidence recovered from the recent STF raid include 16 ATM cards and additional documentation. The organization says they’ve been tracking the individuals for a very long time through electronic surveillance which allowed them to view the thieves’ financial activity. They say that the men were targeting foreign workers who were looking for jobs in India or who are potentially looking to relocate from differing India-based regions.
The STF released an official statement explaining:
They are part of a gang who targets people aspiring for jobs abroad. They contact such aspirants and ask them to deposit some money in different accounts and then stop communication.
While none of the victims have been identified by name just yet, the STF says that three of those who were scammed may have been coming from Lucknow and were looking to relocate to Kushinagar. The three individuals charged in the scam were arrested near Kamta Trisection. It is unknown if they were looking to flee.
The scam potentially worked in three phases. The first individual – known as the picker – would develop phony bank accounts and request that the workers or persons being scammed deposit a set amount of funds into one of the accounts. Another person would set up the conversation between the scammed and the scammer by using a phony SIM card that mirrored a number from the victim’s home region. This way, it looked as if they were potentially speaking with someone “local.”
A third individual set up phony jobs that these individuals would ultimately apply for. Upon requesting the money (usually in BTC) from the victims, the three scammers would cash out and cut off all communication, leaving the people they had hurt with zero cash and a lot of humiliation.
This Is Happening Everywhere
Cryptocurrency scams like these seem to be running rampant. Recently, Live Bitcoin News reported on a similar scam taking place in the Middle East. The situation involved an Instagram influencer persuading unsuspecting persons to invest all their money into various real-estate tokens. He was able to make off with hundreds of thousands of dollars before finally being apprehended by police.
In addition, several crypto scams appear to be making their way into countries like Brazil. Many new companies representing pyramid schemes are alleged to have popped up.