Ahmedabad man duped of ₹19 lakh in ‘crypto trading’ scam

The Cyber Crime Police Station of Ahmedabad has registered a case of cheating and online fraud after a 38-year-old private sector employee was allegedly duped of ₹19.2 lakh by fraudsters posing as international cryptocurrency traders and customer support executives.

According to a Cyber Cell official, the fraud took place between July 27 and October 30, during which the complainant, Dhaval Suthar, a resident of Naroda, was lured into fake Bitcoin and USDT trading through social media and fraudulent websites.

The complainant stated that he was first contacted on Telegram from an unknown number with the UK country code, who later identified as 'Vamika Reddy', claiming to be a resident of Liverpool, United Kingdom. The person initiated a casual conversation and gradually gained the complainant’s trust before introducing him to cryptocurrency trading on what was described as an “international DCX decentralised platform”.

Police said the accused directed the complainant to register on websites such as bitcoin-hes.com, bitcoin-cce.com and bitcoin-ake.com, and to trade through a mobile platform identified as m.bitcoin-cce.com. Initially, the complainant was persuaded to deposit ₹2 lakh, following which he was shown a paper profit of ₹21,000 and allowed to withdraw ₹5,000 to build confidence.

Subsequently, the fraudsters provided a “premium customer support” WhatsApp number with a US country code and instructed the complainant to transfer larger amounts to various bank accounts, UPI IDs and digital wallets for further trading. Acting on their instructions and alleged trading tips, the complainant transferred money in multiple transactions from his HDFC Bank, SBI, Yes Bank and Cosmos Bank accounts.

Police records indicate that a total amount of ₹19.2 lakh was transferred by the complainant to different accounts between September and October. The trading platform then displayed a notional profit of over $145,000 (approximately ₹1.45 crore), following which the complainant attempted to withdraw the funds.

At this stage, the accused allegedly claimed that the trading account had been 'frozen' due to a violation of anti-money laundering rules and demanded an additional payment of $15,000 (around ₹15 lakh) to unfreeze the account. When the complainant refused and sought clarification, both the individual posing as Vamika Reddy and the so-called customer support stopped responding.

Realising that he had been cheated, the complainant contacted the national cybercrime helpline (1930) on October 29 and 30, and registered complaints later. Police said that while approximately ₹5.74 lakh has been put on hold during the initial intervention, the remaining amount could not be recovered.

Based on the complaint filed on January 20, the Cyber Crime Police Station, Ahmedabad city, has registered an offence for cheating, criminal conspiracy and cyber fraud against unknown persons, including the holders of the UK and US-based WhatsApp numbers, operators of the fake trading websites, and other unidentified accused.