Stop Fraud, Belarus Will Ban P2P Crypto Transactions

Nalagani Gururaju, a 39-year-old entrepreneur from Bengaluru, India, lost more than INR 52 lahk or INR 5.2 million, equivalent to Rp. 953.33 million (exchange rate of Rp. 183.33 per INR) in the Bitcoin scam.

Gururaju runs two hair salons in Electronics City in Bengaluru, India. On May 29, an unknown person contacted him via WhatsApp and asked him to take up a part-time job by subscribing to his YouTube channel.

Gururaju promised INR 50 for one subscription. Gururaju subscribed to three channels after clicking on a link sent by an unknown person, for which he received INR 150 in his bank account.

Later, he was added to a Telegram group of four members talking about crypto-related work. Group admins send details of various plans to invest money in buying and selling Bitcoin (BTC).

Members sent multiple text messages and photos. One of them contains a message ostensibly an assignment for crypto entry, stating: Real Time Task Availability, Pay INR 30,000 and withdraw INR 43,500, or pay INR 9,69,000 and withdraw INR 13,08,150, or pay INR 6,28,000 and withdraw INR 9,10,600.

Gururaju was then told to open an account on the website to transact in Bitcoins. The website is similar to the popular crypto exchange site bitFlyer.

“In the Telegram group, other members share screenshots of money received in their accounts. This gives me confidence to continue with my assignments,” said Gururaju, quoted from The Hindu, Tuesday (4/7/2023).

Once Gururaju expressed interest in trading, he was told to transfer money to various account numbers. He sent money to 7 different accounts. The scammer, posing as a BTC broker, admits to trading the coins he has purchased, and the same is reflected in the account (crypto-wallet), which he has opened on their website.