Bitcoin scam: 31-year-old man held for cheating people of Rs 189 crore

Matunga police have uncovered a Bitcoin scam and arrested a 31yearold resident of Karnataka who duped lsquolakhsrsquo of people of crores of rupees Officers have appealed to the people to come forward and file a complaint if they have been cheated by the accused Mohammad JabirPolice launched the investigation in October following a complaint by a teacher a resident of Matunga After months of investigation they traced Jabir to Bengaluru Karnataka and arrested him on February 18 They seized two bank accounts two debit cards passbook and one mobile phone from himAccused offered lucrative returns as bait to attract investors in Bitcoin through his appsDetails of one of the bank accounts has revealed that he made Rs 189 crore by cheating people into investing in Bitcoin between October and February until his arrest said police He is suspected to be active since July they addedThe crimeJabir would purchase bulk SMS service with a limit of 1 crore messages every time police said He would text people asking them to invest in Bitcoin via his appsmdashArohas and Agro PROmdashwith a promise of a lucrative returnIn August 2021 the complainant received a message on his mobile phone that read lsquoJoin Indias No1 Crypto Mining Apps You can earn upto Rs 2000 Profit daily Guaranteed Download amp Get 50 now sicrsquo said police He then downloaded Arohash appLater he started receiving many WhatsApp calls and messages to invest in Bitcoin crypto currency A few days later one Aarav Khurana called him on WhatsApp and told him that he will get Rs 25 daily if he invests Rs 2000 in Bitcoin through Arohash ldquoThe teacher invested Rs 2000 and started receiving Rs 25 in his Arohash account The accused then told him he will get Rs 2000 if he invests Rs 1 lakh The complainant did so and after he received the amount for a few days he invested Rs 247 lakhrdquo said an officerThe accused created a WhatsApp group and added over 200 investors as members including the complainant and sent messages daily informing them about profits of investing in Bitcoin through the apps he suggested said police ldquoHowever after a few days the accused deleted both Arohash and Agro PRO apps on Google Play Store and told the investors that it was because of a technical error and that the apps will be back soonrdquo said policeIn October when the teacher stopped receiving the money he approached the Matunga police who registered a case under sections 419 punishment for cheating by personation 420 cheating 34 common intention of the IPC and Section 66KD of IT ActSubInspector Rajabhau Garad the investigating officer in the case told midday ldquoAfter receiving the complaint we checked the bank account to which the money was transferred and the data records We found that more than Rs 189 crore was credited into the account used by Jabir and was transferred to various other accounts The complainant had also transferred the money into this account They regularly changed their VPNrdquoThe arrestSenior inspector Deepak Chavan said that they created a team of four people including Garad Naik Santosh Pawar and constable Mangesh Janhad who laid a trap and arrested the accused from his residence in BengaluruldquoWe suspect that lakhs of investors have been duped because more than Rs 189 crore was in received in just one of his bank account over the past four months We have found out that several incidents have occurred across the country We are appealing to the citizens to come forward and give a complaint if they were cheated by this accusedrdquo he saidGarad said ldquoJabir shut down the apps on January 18 and his bank accounts were opened in Delhi He also created a fake company and its bank account to transfer the money received from his victims The accused is in police custody We are now checking how many people has he cheatedrdquoJabir stopped schooling when he was in Std III and has two criminal cases registered in Bengaluru and one in Hyderabad he added