BENGALURU: A 33-year-old businessman who purchased Tether on two genuine crypto trading applications lost Rs 20 lakh after he shifted the cryptocurrency to an unknown wallet, allegedly on the advice of a fraudulent agent he had met on a Telegram group.
An FIR was registered at Whitefield CEN crime police station on March 18. Tether (USTD) is a cryptocurrency pegged to the US dollar and backed 100% by Tether’s reserves, according to its website. Tether is owned by iFinex, a Hong Kong-registered company that also owns the crypto exchange Bitfinex, which was hacked a few years ago.
About a month ago, the businessman joined the Telegram group – ‘EQITE-CAPITAL‘ – after receiving an invitation. Scrolling through it, he noticed posts by people claiming to have made massive profits buying cryptocurrencies.
One of the messages stated that a good amount of money could be made from Bitcoin trading. He later contacted the unknown woman who had sent the message. The businessman told TOI that the woman suggested four investment plans to him for purchasing USTD, ranging from $500 to above $10,000.
“I chose the third plan which was between $3,000 and $10,000. The value of 1 USTD on Thursday evening was Rs 87,” he said. He started purchasing USTD on March 9 and it went on till March 18.
He explained that after he purchased USTD from two apps which use blockchain technology, the woman asked him to move the currency to a wallet and shared its address. He followed the instructions.
After the coins were moved, the woman went incommunicado and the businessman could not access his account. He wrote to the customer support of the two apps. The companies found during a probe that the wallet to which the USTD was moved was not attached with them.
Cybercrime police said it is very difficult to track the wallet as even in blockchain technology, one can only see the transactions from one account to another. A probe has been launched and all efforts are being made to recover the money, they said.
An FIR was registered at Whitefield CEN crime police station on March 18. Tether (USTD) is a cryptocurrency pegged to the US dollar and backed 100% by Tether’s reserves, according to its website. Tether is owned by iFinex, a Hong Kong-registered company that also owns the crypto exchange Bitfinex, which was hacked a few years ago.
About a month ago, the businessman joined the Telegram group – ‘EQITE-CAPITAL‘ – after receiving an invitation. Scrolling through it, he noticed posts by people claiming to have made massive profits buying cryptocurrencies.
One of the messages stated that a good amount of money could be made from Bitcoin trading. He later contacted the unknown woman who had sent the message. The businessman told TOI that the woman suggested four investment plans to him for purchasing USTD, ranging from $500 to above $10,000.
“I chose the third plan which was between $3,000 and $10,000. The value of 1 USTD on Thursday evening was Rs 87,” he said. He started purchasing USTD on March 9 and it went on till March 18.
He explained that after he purchased USTD from two apps which use blockchain technology, the woman asked him to move the currency to a wallet and shared its address. He followed the instructions.
After the coins were moved, the woman went incommunicado and the businessman could not access his account. He wrote to the customer support of the two apps. The companies found during a probe that the wallet to which the USTD was moved was not attached with them.
Cybercrime police said it is very difficult to track the wallet as even in blockchain technology, one can only see the transactions from one account to another. A probe has been launched and all efforts are being made to recover the money, they said.
