VIJAYAWADA: The AP Crime Investigation Department (CID) has cracked a transnational cryptocurrency investment fraud involving nearly Rs 15 crore and secured a court order for returning the assets to a woman from Tenali.
The case was registered last year at the CID police station in Mangalagiri. The victim complained that she was lured by promises of unusually high returns. She transferred funds to 13 non-custodial wallets — one on Robinhood and 12 on Onchain — before moving cryptocurrency to the fraudulent platforms Honeycombapi.org and Alibarbit.bit.
Investigators identified 27 transactions involving Bitcoin, Solana and Dogecoin, worth around $1.5 million. The funds passed through multiple wallets, international platforms and mule accounts before reaching Gate Global Corporation, a Cayman Islands-based exchange.
Through blockchain analysis and international coordination, the CID traced 15 Bitcoin transactions to four accounts on Gate.io and secured a freeze on the assets. With assistance from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), investigators identified and arrested eight accused: two each from Hyderabad, Maharashtra and China, and one each from Malaysia and Portugal. A chargesheet has been filed.
On October 30, the VIth additional junior civil judge-cum-special court for CID cases, Guntur, ordered Gate Global Corporation to convert the cryptocurrency in the four accounts into USDT at the prevailing market value and transfer the amount to the victim’s designated wallet.
The investigation was conducted under the guidance of CID DGP Ravi Shankar Ayyanar. A Rs 10,000 reward was announced for inspector Kasi Viswanadh, head constable Venkatewara Rao and T Vijay Krishna for tracing and securing the assets.
The CID advised the public to verify investment platforms and avoid schemes promising guaranteed or unusually high returns. Online fraud victims should call the cybercrime helpline 1930 and lodge complaints on the national cybercrime reporting portal.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
