Maharashtra witnesses three cases of crypto trading app scams in a week - ET BFSI (2024)

• Fintech
• 3 min read

Last week, Maharashtra witnessed three cryptocurrency scams of the same nature - opening a trading account and downloading an app. The three crypto app scams were reported in Mumbai, Pune and Solapur.

With the cryptocurrency market already in doldrums, citizens will now be required to keep an eye out for fraudsters and fake crypto investment apps. Here’s what happened -

Solapur: 31 people duped of Rs.45 lakh

As per a media report, as many as 31 residents of Solapur, Maharashtra, were duped of Rs 45 lakh. The scam happened after they invested their money in a cryptocurrency cloud mining app.

Essentially, a cloud mining app makes use of rented cloud computing power. This eliminates the need of buying costly hardware and software. Crypto investors can simply use this app to place their investments in virtual currencies.

Although crypto cloud mining apps are legal, the one used by residents in Solapur was a sham. Named CCH Cloud Miner App, residents were asked to convert INR into USD before investing.

Initially, while some residents received returns, others didn’t and so, have filed for charges against fraud.

Pune: Retired government officer duped of Rs 18.2 lakh

The crypto app fraud continues with another incident involving a 63-year-old retired state government officer who was functioning at the deputy-secretary level. The man was duped of Rs 18.2 lakhs by luring him with the idea of earning profits through crypto trading.

Reportedly, this happened during the May-June period wherein, some crooks had asked the victime to open a trading account and download a particular app.

After each investment, the victim was sent a link which falsely showed that he had earned huge sums as profit, in just 24-hours. Irony as it may be, the man was also asked to pay some amount as insurance against crypto fraud.

This continued manipulation resulted in the crooks taking away all the money. While investigation is on, police have shared that the UPI account to which the money was transferred is located in Latur.

Mumbai: Crypto trading app vanishing with crores of rupees

This fraud is similar to the other two instances but, involves Ece Limited, yet another fake crypto trading app. After thousands of investors put in crores of money, the app suddenly disappeared from app stores. It also stopped functioning last month.

The incident however, came to light some victims on Wednesday, sought help from the MIDC police station. According to a report by Mid-Day, one victim ahad invested Rs.16 lakh in the app since July. But the app currently shows the account balance as zero.

Claimed to be a US-based firm, Ece Limited owned two Telegram channels which were used to create a customer-base in India, supposedly, for duping innocent investors.

In fact, this company has duped people from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and other states. The investigation however, is still underway.

The end word…

As such frauds surrounding crypto-mining apps spread across India, the common public is likely to distance themselves further away from private virtual currencies. Although vigilance and awareness can tackle these scams, a question remains - can the unregulated crypto eventually become a breeding ground for fraudsters?

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