A shocking cyber fraud has come to light in the name of cryptocurrency investment in Hyderabad. The swindlers trapped a 66-year-old consultant living in Kondapur area of the city through social media and defrauded him of about Rs 3.54 crore. This entire matter has once again exposed the danger of fraud in the name of online investment.
According to the police, the victims live in Majid Banda area of Kondapur. He had received a friend request on Facebook from a woman named ‘Navya Serge’. After the conversation started, the woman gradually won his trust and then took his WhatsApp number. After this, regular conversations started between the two.
Woman advised to invest in cryptocurrency trading
After some time the woman advised him to invest in cryptocurrency trading. He claimed that from this investment he would get huge profits in a short time. Heeded by the woman’s words, the victim started investing on an alleged crypto trading platform from June 2024. Initially everything appeared normal, but when the victim tried to withdraw his money after investing around Rs 1.5 crore, his account suddenly got blocked. Despite several attempts he could not withdraw his money.
The victim became suspicious of the woman
A few months later, in November, the woman’s phone number appeared active again. When the victim contacted, a picture of another woman appeared on his WhatsApp profile. She introduced herself as Anushka Sharma from Chandigarh and said that she runs a garment manufacturing company. During investigation, the victim became suspicious because different names of the same person were visible on different social media accounts. Her name on Instagram was Manisha, while in her LinkedIn profile she was describing herself as a senior manager of a real estate consultancy firm. Despite doubts, the victim was persuaded to invest again. This time too he was lured with huge profits. Relying, he transferred a total of Rs 3.54 crore in four installments. Later they realized that they had fallen into the trap of a big cyber gang.
Telangana Cyber Security Bureau investigation
In this matter, Telangana Cyber Security Bureau has registered a case and started investigation. Officials are trying to trace this fake crypto trading platform and the active network behind it. Cyber officials have appealed to the people to check the credibility of the platform before investing online and not to transfer money on the request of any unknown person.
