The Delhi Police on Monday arrested a Ludhiana-based businessman for allegedly duping a man of over Rs 31 lakh by luring him to invest in a fake cryptocurrency trading platform, an official said.
Police said that a 42-year-old man, Nitin Sharma, defrauded a Delhi resident of Rs 31.75 lakh by enticing him through social media to invest in the fake app ‘BitBank.’
Scrutiny of the devices confiscated by police found that several numbers used in the fraud were traced to Cambodia, pointing to an overseas connection in the case.
“Sharma posed as a BitBank executive and induced the victim to transfer large sums to multiple bank accounts under the pretext of high returns from fake shares and IPO allotments,” said Aditya Gautam, Deputy Commissioner of Police.
The officer added that Sharma impersonated a BitBank executive and convinced the victim to transfer substantial amounts to multiple bank accounts, claiming they were returns from fake shares and IPO allotments.
With this information, a case was registered, and acting on technical intel, the cops tracked Sharma withdrawing Rs 10 lakh in cash, as captured on CCTV, and got their hands on him.
DCP Gautam said that the team seized several high-tech mobile phones used in the scam, which had incriminating social media chats, transaction records, and digital evidence directly connecting him to the syndicate.
The accused, a graduate and local businessman from Ludhiana’s Anaj Mandi, is in police custody, with investigations ongoing to map the syndicate’s network.