In today’s world, cryptocurrency has become a buzzword, offering opportunities for both investment and trading. But with the rise in popularity, scams targeting unsuspecting individuals have also surged. A 50-year-old doctor from Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, recently became the victim of one such scam, losing a staggering Rs 11 crore in a fake crypto trading scheme.
It all started in August when Dr Sameer Azad Mahendra was approached by a person named Mittal, who claimed to represent Webull, a reputed forex trading platform.
Mittal convinced the doctor to register and trade on two websites — https://webull.bet and www.webull-vip1.pro — promising huge returns on his investments. These sites appeared legitimate, and the doctor, initially encouraged by what seemed like profits, began investing more money.
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Dr Mahendra was instructed to convert Indian rupees into USDT, a popular cryptocurrency, and transfer them through RTGS to specific merchant accounts provided by the fraudsters, reports TOI. Encouraged by his apparent profits, he continued making larger deposits.
As the months went by, Dr Mahendra made several RTGS transactions from three different bank accounts. However, when he tried to withdraw his earnings, he was told that he needed to pay an advance tax of Rs 3.7 crore under a supposed US federal law for non-residents.
The fraudsters claimed Mittal’s family would cover Rs 1.7 crore as a loan, leaving the doctor to pay Rs 2 crore. Even after this, more tax demands followed, citing anti-money laundering regulations.
Suspicious of the growing demands, Dr Mahendra finally realised that something was wrong and filed a complaint with the Hyderabad cybercrime police on November 30. The scamsters had swindled Rs 11.1 crore from him through multiple transactions.
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