MBVV cops outwit Chinese scammers, retrieve Mira Rd man’s cryptos worth Rs 36L

Yogesh Jain, the complainant; (right) Tether, the crypto he invested in. Pic/Hanif Patel

About a year of probe, which also involved a thorough understanding of cryptocurrency, finally led the Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar cops to the complainant's money swindled by Chinese scammers. The cops managed to retrieve Tether stablecoin - a type of cryptocurrency - worth R36 lakh, including Rs 3 lakh of profit.

According to the Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar (MBVV) cyber police, complainant Yogesh Jain, a mobile phone trader based in Mira Road, came across a WhatsApp group that gave information on cryptocurrency investments.

The MBVV cyber police team that solved the case. Pics/Hanif Patel

The group was running under the banner of a Hong Kong-based company - BTC India. It claimed to give high returns on investments. After a few weeks of chats, the accused managed to gain Jain's confidence and made him transfer money into the wallet of BTC India from Binance cryptocurrency exchange, police said.

Jain received good returns and showed interest in further investment, following which BTC India appointed a manager to him, named Marc, on WhatsApp.

How it started

According to cops, Jain received a message on WhatsApp from +852-46849180 on February 8, 2022, about investing money in cryptocurrency. They told Jain to purchase Tether - a stablecoin, which is a type of cryptocurrency. Jain purchased Tether through Binance and received a profit of 100 USDT (Tether).

The alleged Chinese scammers

After a few days, Jain again received a profit of 300 USDT. Within 27 days, Jain had invested around Rs 33 lakh in cryptocurrency on the Binance platform. On March 8, Marc told him to transfer all his investment made on Binance to BTC India for additional profit, according to cops. Jain followed their instruction and made the transfer via: https://trade.mpisvip.com.

For the next two-three days, Jain noticed continued growth on the site. He had invested 39,500 USDT (Rs 33 lakh), which had grown to 1,50,000 USDT on the site. However, on March 11, when he opened the site, he got the text: page not found. Jain immediately realised that he had been conned, yet he tried to contact Marc, but the number was switched off.

Jain approached the local police, but they refused to file an FIR, citing lack of evidence. He then wrote to the cyber cell of MBVV police, who started
an investigation.

The probe

A cyber police team was formed under the guidance of Senior Inspector Sujitkumar Gunjkar. It comprised API Swapnil Wavhar, PSI Prasad Shenolkar, WHC Madhuri Dhindhe, Constables Pallavi Nikam, Suvarna Mali, Ameena Pathan, Pravin Awhad, Ganesh Gilak and Kunal Salvi.

For better understanding of cryptocurrency, the team got in touch with a US-based company that is an expert in this domain. The company then asked the cops to contact OKX - a global cryptocurrency exchange headquartered in Victoria, Seychelles, a country in East Africa.

The MBVV cyber police team made 117 email communications with OKX, giving them proof of the transactions and the fraud, following which the firm agreed to help. For further confirmation, OKX took a video recording of Gunjkar and his ID card over the call.

OKX directed the MBVV cops to approach the court to seek permission for the transfer of the stolen cryptocurrency into Jain's account. The police team managed to get the permission. OKX, meanwhile, found that the five Chinese citizens had duped Jain and also recovered their ID cards.

With coordination and cooperation of people across three continents - Asia, Africa and North America - Jain finally got his money back on June 12. He not only got the amount he had invested, but an additional R3 lakh. In total, he received R36 lakh - the value of Tether on the day of the transfer to his account, said a cop.

March 2022
Month Jain filed complaint with MBVV cyber cell