Surat: Surat cybercrime police have arrested a 46-year-old Hyderabad-based man in connection with a Rs 16 lakh cryptocurrency investment fraud, officials said.The accused, identified as Jeevan Raut, is a science graduate with LLB and MBA degrees and was working as a project finance consultant. Police said he allowed his firm’s current bank account to be used to route cyber fraud money. Investigators found transactions worth Rs 4.75 crore in the account.According to police, a Surat resident filed a complaint on March 20 after his father was duped of Rs 16 lakh. The fraudsters lured the victim with promises of high returns in USDT (cryptocurrency) trading. They made him download a mobile application named BSGC and open an account, where fake profits were shown to induce further investments.Based on technical analysis, a cybercrime team tracked the money trail to Hyderabad and arrested Raut. During questioning, it was revealed that he had lent his ICICI Bank account to a co-accused, identified as Venkat Raman, a retired govt official. The defrauded amount from the Surat victim was routed through this account.Police inspector RR Desai said five cyber fraud complaints linked to the same bank account have been registered in Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Karnataka and Maharashtra, involving fraud worth Rs 2.75 crore.Police said Raut, a native of Odisha, had opened the bank account for his partnership firm during his construction business days. After shifting to consultancy work, the account remained largely inactive before he allowed it to be used for illegal transactions.
