Ahmedabad businessman duped of ₹31 lakh in fake cryptocurrency investment scam

In yet another case of cyber fraud targeting unsuspecting investors, a 54-year-old building construction materials supplier from Ahmedabad has lodged a police complaint alleging that he was cheated of ₹31 lakh by a woman who posed as an investment advisor for a cryptocurrency trading platform using the name and logo of the reputed exchange CoinEx.

According to the complaint filed with the Cyber Crime Ahmedabad, Shailesh Patel, a resident of Sola, stated that the fraud took place between April 3 and May 8, 2025. Patel, who operates a construction materials business, told police that an unidentified woman, introducing herself as Aradhya Thakur, befriended him on Facebook and later contacted him via WhatsApp. 

She convinced Patel to invest in a cryptocurrency platform supposedly named ‘CoinEx VIPT’—accessible through the website, a 10 per cent profit on dollar purchases converted into USDT, a stablecoin. Believing her claims, Patel registered on the website with a user ID after she helped him set up the account. 

Over the next month, Patel transferred a total of ₹31 lakh in several instalments to multiple bank accounts provided by the so-called customer care team. Initially, the woman credited ₹9,900 to Patel’s account, claiming it was part of his profit—apparently to gain his trust. However, when he later tried to withdraw his invested amount, the website stopped responding, and both the woman and the customer care number became unreachable.

Patel said he later discovered that the website he had used ‘coinexvipt.com’ was not affiliated with the genuine CoinEx cryptocurrency exchange. A warning on the official site, he said, clarified that ‘CoinEx VIPT’ was a fake domain impersonating the legitimate platform.

Realising he had been duped, Patel called the cybercrime helpline 1930. He then filed a detailed written complaint, attaching chat transcripts with ‘Aradhya Thakur’ and the purported customer care executive, along with his bank statements and transaction records.

The Cyber Crime Police have registered a case under relevant sections of the BNS and Information Technology Act, citing offences of cheating, criminal breach of trust, and criminal conspiracy.