Indian Authority Busts Cryptocurrency Fraud Ring Targeting Foreign National

[sirty143]

Indian Authority Busts Cryptocurrency Fraud Ring Targeting Foreign National

India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) has cracked down on a cryptocurrency fraud ring targeting a foreign national. The accused persuaded the victim to transfer $400,000 to a cryptocurrency account set up using unauthorized remote access... See more for yourself here.

Your opinion is greatly appreciated.

[TomPluz]

Just last month, I was watching many videos on YouTube detailing the many scams and frauds operated based in India and it was horrifying to know how good these scammers targetting innocent victims mostly citizens of other countries including the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and even some more Western countries. These scammers are using all the many creative ways and means to get their victims to shell out money with the promise of this and that as part of the transaction. They even have the Love Scam which by the name itself can be involving a fake relationship and with the aim of getting something from the other line. Now, with the coming of cryptocurrency, I am sure that things got even worse as it would now be a lot easier to victimize people as transfer of funds can be almost automatic and irreversible. In my own opinion, the Indian government should have a nationwide campaign to educate people on scams and frauds using cryptocurrency as the medium of exchange...and must tell them that if they want to get involved with cryptocurrency they have to do it right, otherwise the risk can be so big for them to lose hard-earned money. In addition, let's hope that these scams will not be used by the government to dismiss cryptocurrency and make it hard for the people to participate in the legitimate crypto opportunities as there is no cryptocurrency scam but scams using cryptocurrency in the same way that there is no rupee scam but scams using rupee.

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

If we got scammed due to our lack of information on the security measures required of us to practice, then its left to us to face the consequences, we are also be to responsible for anything that happens to us with the digital asset that we hodl, that is why its should be a decentralized digital currency everyone have control over, he was lucky not to be scammed completely, if we didn't make ourself vulnerable, others may not have have a means to use and scam us.

[yhiaali3]

The ED found that the cryptocurrency was transferred to Prafful Gupta and his mother, Sarita Gupta, and subsequently sold. The proceeds were moved to fake entities in India and further distributed to thousands of accounts with fake Know-Your-Customer (KYC) details. Part of the funds went to a Gurgaon-based fintech company, which helped layer the proceeds without proper KYC checks.

It is unfortunate that KYC was imposed for the purpose of protecting users, but from this news we see that it is nothing, because the scammers, as mentioned, have created "thousands of accounts that contain fake “Know Your Customer” (KYC) details"!!!

So KYC has become useless because it can be easily forged, in addition there is a risk that your account will be hacked, your KYC documents stolen, and then one day you will find yourself wanted by the police for theft or money laundering.

[SamReomo]

I'm not against India or Indian people but those scammers who operate in India often consider innocent citizens of foreign countries as rich and overly wealthy and that's why they mostly target citizens from countries like USA, Australia, Canada, UK and some other European countries.

I believe it's Indian government's responsibility to find those scammers and put them behind the bars but for a government handling a huge population won't be an easy task and in that population finding those scammers is one of the toughest things they can do.

[TomPluz]

The ED found that the cryptocurrency was transferred to Prafful Gupta and his mother, Sarita Gupta, and subsequently sold. The proceeds were moved to fake entities in India and further distributed to thousands of accounts with fake Know-Your-Customer (KYC) details. Part of the funds went to a Gurgaon-based fintech company, which helped layer the proceeds without proper KYC checks.

It is unfortunate that KYC was imposed for the purpose of protecting users, but from this news we see that it is nothing, because the scammers, as mentioned, have created "thousands of accounts that contain fake “Know Your Customer” (KYC) details"!!!

So KYC has become useless because it can be easily forged, in addition there is a risk that your account will be hacked, your KYC documents stolen, and then one day you will find yourself wanted by the police for theft or money laundering.

One thing for sure, with today's modern technology no barrier is insurmountable and in fact they can even be used to lure people into thinking that everything can be safe because of the KYC made. Now, to tell honestly, this is so disparaging to say the least on the part of the regulators as the system they are using can easily bend and even be utilized for the advantage of the scammers and fraudsters. I am just wondering what will happen once AI technology will mature and will be utilized by scammers and fraudsters to their advantage. People will start to not trust anything most especially online transactions. On our part, we have responsibility to triple check everything so we will not be a part of the scam statistics. On the part of the government and even big financial institutions, they must be supporting scam prevention to be embedded in school curriculum and must have a nationwide scam education campaign so we can slowly weed these scammers out of the civil society.

[yhiaali3]

 On our part, we have responsibility to triple check everything so we will not be a part of the scam statistics. On the part of the government and even big financial institutions, they must be supporting scam prevention to be embedded in school curriculum and must have a nationwide scam education campaign so we can slowly weed these scammers out of the civil society.

Yes, it is true. The best solution is to increase awareness and education, and to educate young people in particular, about scammers and the means they use to ensnare their victims. This will contribute greatly to reducing this annoying phenomenon that is widespread in the Crypto community.

Although I think this helps but it will not prevent fraud completely because greed is part of human nature and scammers always use this bad human instinct to lure their victims.

[hugeblack]

I used to think that $50,000 was a large sum in India, let alone $400,000. For such an amount, the deception should not be simple, as it should be organized and target a wide range of the forum with small amounts.
In general, from the details of the fraud, hacker obtained unauthorized remote access to his computer and used the phone number and email, which means that the user has installed malware on the computer or downloaded cracked programs.

[Baofeng]

I used to think that $50,000 was a large sum in India, let alone $400,000. For such an amount, the deception should not be simple, as it should be organized and target a wide range of the forum with small amounts.
In general, from the details of the fraud, hacker obtained unauthorized remote access to his computer and used the phone number and email, which means that the user has installed malware on the computer or downloaded cracked programs.

It was a organized crime if you can call it that way, as the leader established offices in India as if they really look legit, with computers and phones and servers. But at the back, they are all scammers working under a leader and then targeting the elderly in the states. You can watch a lot of videos of it and there are also individuals who tries to get back at this scammers. But the thing is that that the Indian government are doing nothing or even if you report it to the police. Hopefully, this is just one of example and it will set a precedence with the Indian government to crack down and go after this criminals.

[Faisal2202]

It's a good thing that Indian authorities are busting against these scammers, no doubt the population of the country is a lot, and it is hard for the limited police to handle them, but still, it's a good thing they managed to get these bastards and recovered the funds. Its not only in India, but scammers are placed in all over the world, when they do some bad act like this, they hurt the image of there country.

Although the amount seems small in dollars for a foreigner but speaking in fiat currency its not. Its almost triple here in my country. I hope more fraudsters will be busted as when one group get caught other also get caught.