A 37-year-old man in Thane became the latest victim of cyber fraud in which he lost money worth around Rs 12 lakh after his cryptocurrency account was hacked. An unidentified person allegedly hacked the cryptocurrency account of a person after he visited Thane for some work, according to the complaint filed by the man two months later since the crime took place, the police said on Monday.
The miscreant siphoned off $15,097, worth about Rs 12 lakh, the police said, according to the news agency PTI report. The incident took place on November 1, 2022, but the man complained to the police last week, an official from Srinagar police station told the agency.
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The victim is a resident of Kandivali, near Mumbai, who visited Thane due to some work on November 1 when someone allegedly hacked his crypto account online and siphoned off the amount. The amount is said to have been directly transferred into the bank account of a company, the official added.
The Srinagar police had registered a case on Saturday against the unidentified person under Indian Penal Code Section 420 (cheating) and provisions of the Information Technology Act, the official said.
However, the victim did not provide any reason for registering the complaint after two months, the police said. The police has launched a probe into the case.
In a cyber fraud earlier this month, another man from Dombivali, in Thane, was duped for Rs 6.9 lakh by a cyber fraudster over a job scam, reported Free Press Journal. The victim received the online part-time job offer on WhatsApp claiming that he would earn more than Rs 18,000 per month.
It is when the complainant was sent a website link of www.bakelang.com along with an activation code for him to register. Later, he filled in details for creating a Telegram account for discussions on the part-time job, the report added.
The victim transferred a total of Rs 6,90,000 from his two bank accounts between November 29 and December 12, 2022. While the fraudster continued sending different links on Telegram like www.neolr.com and www.jrlrbts.com for him to register. Later on suspicion, he tried to withdraw the money that he had transferred, but could not do so and was asked to pay Rs 2,17,500 as charges to withdraw the amount.
Disclaimer: Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions. Cryptocurrency is not a legal tender and is subject to market risks. Readers are advised to seek expert advice and read offer document(s) along with related important literature on the subject carefully before making any kind of investment whatsoever. Cryptocurrency market predictions are speculative and any investment made shall be at the sole cost and risk of the readers.