Pune: A 66-year-old chemical trader from Kothrud lost Rs 5.42 lakh after cybercrooks promised attractive returns and lured him into investing in cryptocurrency through a fake trading platform.The fraud took place between Jan 29 and Feb 5 this year. The elderly man lodged a complaint with the Alankar police on Thursday.The complainant received a message from one “Anish”, who promised daily profits from investments in the Tether (USDT) stablecoin through his company. The complaint stated that the suspect added the man to an online group and shared a link purportedly of a trading platform.“The complainant initially transferred the money from his wife’s and son’s bank accounts to buy USDT and was shown his investment had grown to Rs 24.66 lakh,” a police officer said.The suspects asked him to pay a “commission” of Rs 7.39 lakh to transfer his investment and returns. When he couldn’t pay, the suspects stopped responding, prompting him to approach the police.The police have registered a case under sections 318 (cheating) and 319 (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.
