Mumbai: Police have filed a case against an unidentified individual for defrauding a woman to the tune of ₹7 lakh in a Bitcoin investment online scam.
According to the FIR, 32-year-old Astha Metkar, a resident of Goregaon (East), saw her friend Rucha Joshi’s Instagram post on October 25 claiming that she had earned ₹3.11 lakh on an investment of ₹30,000.
Astha messaged Rucha on Instagram to enquire about investing in Bitcoin. Rucha recommended the @janielle_trade_fx Instagram account. On October 27, Rucha informed Astha on Instagram that her old crypto investment account had been hacked and provided her with a new Instagram ID, along with a phone number and UPI address for cryptocurrency investment.
On October 28, around noon, Astha received a link from the Instagram account provided by her friend. Astha clicked the link and created her account, finding $1,000 credited to her crypto account. She began trading and saw her account balance increase to $1,700. The scammer then told her she needed to upgrade her account by paying ₹1.50 lakh to be able to withdraw the funds. Astha transferred ₹1.5 lakh from her Kotak Mahindra account to an ICICI account belonging to someone named Manoj Kumar.
Scamster asked victim to download 'Coinbase' app
The scammer further instructed Astha to download an app named ‘Coinbase’ for withdrawal and requested her bank details, which she provided. The scammer then claimed she needed to deposit $300 as security deposit. Astha followed the instructions and deposited the money.
Subsequently, the scammer informed her that an agent required ₹50,000 to release her funds. Astha sent ₹50,000 to Kumar’s account. Again, on October 31, the scammer told her that a second agent required Rs1 lakh, which she also sent. The scammer provided various reasons for these demands.
Growing suspicious, Astha contacted Rucha, who revealed that her Instagram account had been hacked. Rucha had already filed a case at Vanrai police station.
Astha realised she had fallen victim to a scam and lost ₹7 lakh. She filed a case against an unidentified individual under Sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly) of the Indian Penal Code along with Sections 66 (c), and 66(d) of the Information Technology Act.
