Crypto Scammers got bored in India with a $700,000 scam pose as a Japanese exchange

Indian law enforcement has arrested five suspects allegedly deceived businessmen from around $700,000 through a fake cryptocurrency trading platform.

According to local media, five suspects, including one woman, were taken into custody after an investigation by Cybercrime Wing of the Odisha crime division.

The defendant reportedly committed fraud using a fake trading app called Zaif, where he promised a massive return of up to 200% on digital currency investments. The trading platform was promoted as being based in Japan.

It is worth noting that Zaif is the name of a legitimate Japanese cryptocurrency exchange that was hacked for $60 million in 2022. However, the platform used in this scam is likely not affiliated with it, simply borrowing its name to make it seem reliable.

The scam began when the Indian businessman victim was contacted on Facebook by a woman claiming to be a Hong Kong-based IBM software developer.

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She gained his trust and convinced him to invest in the code via Zaif. Over a month he moved over 6 crawls (about $699,352) to various accounts managed by fraudsters.

As is common in such crypto trading scams, victims initially showed false benefits to build trust on the platform. However, when the victim tried to withdraw the profits, the platform demanded an additional Rs 89 lakh to unlock the funds. This is a tactic commonly known as advance fee fraud.

When the victim refused, the con artist disappeared and cut off contact.

Police have tracked down the suspects through digital trails and bank records. Authorities seized phones, SIM cards, ID documents and other criminal materials during the attack.

With cryptocurrency still operating in grey areas, India remains a hotspot of scams and fraud targeting unsuspecting users. Earlier this month, police cracked down on a similar scam that promoted fake tokens called RSNs and promised a daily return of 2%. The loss was estimated to be between $114 and $2.29 million.

read more: A $87 million crypto fraud was discovered in Norway and four people were charged