Pune Pathologist duped of Rs 20 lakh in Bitcoin investment fraud

Pune: A pathologist in Pune filed a police complaint against cyber fraudsters after he was allegedly cheated of Rs 20 lakh by the accused in a case of bitcoin fraud with the promise of high returns. 

The pathologist was cheated by a fake Facebook post attributed to a prominent IT industry leader through which the fraudsters promised him high returns in bitcoin investment. They also held a video conference to give him a tutorial on trading. 

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The 49-year-old pathologist said that the FB post was shown as coming from a prominent IT industry leader, who had reportedly held appointments on a key government body in the past. The post talked about opportunities in British Bitcoins investment and mentioned contact details for registration purposes. 

After registration, he received a call from an international number with a United Kingdom country who asked the doctor to pay Indian money equivalent to $250 for registration. 

Speaking to Indian Express, an officer said, "Soon after transferring the money, another person calling from an international number also sought cash equivalent to $1000 for document verification, opening a trading account, and also an online video tutorial on how to trade in bitcoin." 

After he made the registration payment, a few callers claiming to be executives of a cryptocurrency trading company asked him to pay $12,070 for bitcoin trading. Later they demanded another $11,500 by threatening to not give his earlier investment back. 

The pathologist had lost around Rs 20.5 lakhs to the fraudsters. He filed a complaint at Vimantal police station after realizing that he was cheated. Stating that they have registered a case after the cyber crime cell completed their preliminary investigation, Senior Inspector V T Sonde, in charge of Vimantal police station said, "We have launched a probe into the contact details and bank accounts used by the suspects." 

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