Crypto fraud alert: Gurugram-based exec meets women on matrimonial site, gets duped of ₹38 lakh. Here's what happened

A Gurugram-based consulting firm executive was defrauded of approximately ₹38 lakh by a woman, whom he met on a matrimonial site. The fraudster enticed him to invest in a cryptocurrency called deuncoin, and was asked for various other charges, police said. 

An FIR has been registered at Cyber Crime East police station and the police are currently looking for the accused.  

Consulting firm executive Naman Aggarwal met Ridhi Sharma via jeevansaathi.com in November 2023. She claimed to have been living in London for the past five years and that she was a native of Kolkata, Aggarwal said in his complaint. 

“One day she lured me to invest in cryptocurrency and made my trading account on the website m.deuncoin.vip. The link to this website was sent by her on WhatsApp and the customer care team of the trading platform was also communicated with via WhatsApp.”

“She asked me to invest ₹10 lakh initially and said she will transfer a similar amount to my trading account. On December 20, the victim said he received a message on WhatsApp from Deuncoin customer care support team that an  amount transferred by Ridhi Sharma was an act of money laundering and comes under the scanner of financial action, and the task force asked him to deposit a similar sum within 24 hours to restore the normal status of the trading account warning that it would otherwise be frozen,” he said in the complaint.

Soon after this, Aggarwal deposited another ₹10 lakh and asked them to withdraw his money. Instead, they forced him to  transfer more money in the name of different charges

Even after he paid ₹38 lakh, they kept demanding more, this convinced him that the woman was involved in the whole fraud, Aggarwal said and added, “The modus operandi was to first win the man’s trust and then make him a victim of financial fraud.”

Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered against the unknown woman and other fraudsters under Section 420 (cheating) of IPC at the cyber police station, east. A senior cyber police officer said that a probe is underway and the accused will be arrested soon.