Bitcoin (BTC) is the best-known example of a virtual currency. But it seems that Indian police have now come across a criminal case involving virtual (as in “non-existent”) virtual currency.
According to The Times of India (TOI), a businessman from the southeastern part of New Dehli, India’s capital, was scammed out of approximately Rs. 91 lakhs (around $134,000) by a conman he first met in 2017 whilst visiting a bank.
The scammer, who identified himself as a representative of some cryptocurrency exchange, decided to go for the long con.
As you read the businessman’s account of what happened to him, please bear in mind that the symbol for India’s currency is the Rupee (when in plural, usually abbreviated to “Rs.”), that “lakh” means “100,000”, and that currently $1 is roughly equivalent to Rs. 68. So, for example, “Rs. 1 lakh” is roughly equivalent to $1470.
For the rest of this article, for the sake of brevity, we’ll refer to the businessman as “B” and the scammer as “S”.
So, here, in B’s own words, is what happened after the accidental meeting in the bank.
“He later called me and started offering deals for buying bitcoins. I bought one for Rs 5.4 lakh. As soon as I paid the money, I received a message on my phone updating me about the purchase. I sold them a month later for Rs 6 lakh.”
B was once again invited by S to make another bitcoin purchase, this time with the promise that he would earn a 50% profit if he held onto the BTC for a minimum of three months. B said OK, bought the BTC for Rs. 6.5 lakh, and a few months later sold it for Rs. 9.75 lakh. So, far everything was going great for B since he was realizing real profits, and S seemed very genuine.
The company S claimed to be working for, MNC, then told him that there would be “a huge surge in the prices of bitcoins after 20 days” and that he could almost double his profit. The offer made to him was a 5% discount if he bought 10 bitcoins worth around Rs. 91 ($134,000).
B borrowed the money from friends/family, and went to visit the company’s office in January 2018 to give the money for this most recent purchase. B was told that he would receive the bitcoins in his BTC wallet after the seller, who was supposedly based in Dubai, got confirmation that the money had reached China.
However, as you can probably guess, these truly virtual coins did not really exist anywhere except in the minds of B, S, and S’s accomplices, leaving poor B with anger, sadness, embarrassment, and shame.
After B’s complaint, a criminal case has been registered at New Dehli’s “Vasant Vihar” police station.
Of course, the moral of the story is “If anyone offers you discounted bitcoin, run, not walk, away from them as fast as possible.”
With the increasing popularity and public awareness of cryptocurrencies, it is not surprising that crypto scam cases are on the rise, and criminals are finding all kinds of imaginative ways to cheat unsuspecting members of the public.
