Ahmedabad: A 20-year-old student from Gota lost Rs 11 lakh in an alleged cryptocurrency investment scam promising high returns on bitcoin trading.According to the complaint registered with Cybercrime police on Tuesday, the student came across an advertisement on Instagram in Jan that claimed that investors could earn substantial profits from bitcoin trading. After clicking on the advertisement, he was redirected to a WhatsApp chat where a person claiming to be an investment adviser convinced him to begin with a small investment.The student first transferred Rs 3,000 and then Rs 7,199 through UPI. Fraudsters sent him fabricated invoices showing that the invested amount had multiplied and demanded Rs 7,200 as “commission to release the profits”.The complainant alleged that the accused continued sending forged statements showing rising profits and introduced him to a ‘senior company official’. To gain his confidence, the accused shared a market regulator’s purported authorisation certificate and demanded additional money as commission, wallet charges and GST before the investment could be withdrawn.The student said he transferred a total of Rs 10.9 lakh through multiple UPI transactions between Jan 17 and March 31. The fraudsters allegedly showed him that he had accumulated returns of Rs 18.5 lakh but refused to release the money unless he paid more charges. Realising the con, he reported the fraud to the National Cyber Crime Helpline in April.Cybercrime police lodged a formal complaint against unidentified persons on charges of cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy under the BNS and the Information Technology Act.
