Indian Authorities Cracked A $5.4M Crypto Scam, Arrested 11 People

The Indian authorities cracked a $5.4 million crypto scam scheme and arrested 11 people along the way as we can see more in today’s latest altcoin news.

Following a police raid, the police in Nagpur arrested 11 people in connection with a crypto scam that netted $5.4 million. The Indian authorities cracked down on a high-profile crypto scam case and arrested 11 people in connection with the scam tht duped the investors out of the $5.36 million. Accoridng to the Times of India, the police conducted a raid in Lonavala arresting four individuals and seizing gold as well as expensive vehicles worth $134,000, laptops, cell phones, firearms, and $25,000 in cash. The four arrested were identified as husband and wife Nishid Wasnik and Pragati, Sandesh Lanjewar, and Gajanan Mungune.

A day later, another seven individuals were arrested in connection with the case as per the local media. The arrested were charged under the IPC, Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act, and Information Technology Act Provisions. Wasnik and his Wife were on the run for the year alongside Lanjewar and are accused of duping investors in a scam reaching back to 2017 with the scam including investors that were supposed to buy ETH from the website ZebPay and send them to Wasnik’s website.

On the website, the gang protected a benefit to each investor but drained their Ethers to benefit Wasnik and his aides according to Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar:

 “Wasnik and his gang seemed to have transferred huge numbers of Ethers to some other site or monetized them to support his lavish lifestyle.”

In all, police identified over 170 investors who lost under $500,000 but are investigating other dubious transactions in digital currencies that are worth around $5.4 million. The gang is accused of having kidnapped and shot an associate Madhav Pawar a year ago and he was killed for failing to share a password of a crucial transaction. The gang went into hiding but was tracked down through their online activities. The news of the arrest came as the Indian government and central bank fought over the question of the crypto’s legality.

While the country’s fiannce minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced 30% of the crypto income with no exemptions or deductions, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Shaktikanta Das maintained a hardline stance on crypto. DAs described private crypto as a threat to macroeconomic stability and financial stability. Despite the regulatory uncertainty, the crypto investmetns in India grew from $923 million in 2020 to about $6.6 billion in 2021 and provided a fertile place for scams.