Mumbai: How one woman ran multi-crore crypto scam for Chinese mafia

The woman, now out on bail, lives along the upscale Khar Link Road. Representational pic

A 29-year-old Khar woman was arrested on the charge of helping Chinese Bitcoin scammers suck out Indian investors' money by opening at least 100 accounts in several banks and creating many shell companies. The woman allegedly took the help of two officials from HDFC and Kotak banks who also have been arrested, said sources. The cyber police suspect the fraud could be as big as Rs 1,000 crore.

The scam began unravelling following a complaint by a 66-year-old professor from a top engineering college. On March 31, the professor approached the Khar police station saying she was duped of Rs 36 lakh in the guise of investment in Bitcoins.

In June 2021, the professor told the police, she clicked on a link - investby.com - on social media hoping to know more about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency investments. She then started getting calls from a UK number with the caller introducing himself as Shiv and giving detailed explanations about the investment. Despite the complainant telling Shiv that she had no money to invest, the latter kept calling her daily to persuade her to put in money.

Cops suspect the size of the Bitcoin scam to be as big as Rs 1,000 crore. Representation pic

Finally, in December 2021, the professor invested Rs 15,000, said police sources.

Soon, a woman named Nikita called her saying she was the manager at the investment company. She coaxed the professor to invest Rs 36 lakh over the next three months - between December 2021 and March 2022.

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A few days later, the professor told the cops, Nikita said they had lost all her money due to the Russia-Ukraine war and she could get back her funds if invested another $5,000. Realising that she had been conned, she went to the police. As the amount was more than Rs 10 lakh, the cybercops took over the case.

The woman allegedly opened 20 shell firms using fake KYC. Representation pic

Cops on money trail

As they delved deep into the money trail, the cyber cops found that Rs 14.52 lakh had been transferred to the Bank of Kigali, Rwanda; R10 lakh through the Canada-based Nuvei payment gateway; and Rs 9.86 lakh was transferred to a Mumbai-based firm known as Luna the Solution.

"We were unable to track foreign transactions, but one domestic transaction which we found after months of investigation led us to this whole conspiracy where we found that one woman was handling the account of the said firm where the transaction was made," an officer privy to the investigation said.

The police learnt that the firm's registered address was fake. The owner of the firm, whose Aadhaar card was used to get the Gumasta licence from BMC, a document essential for opening current accounts, was a slum dweller who was clueless about any firm being opened using his credentials.

The police then focussed on the mobile number linked to the firm's bank account. "We were sure that the person was somewhere in Mumbai as the account was being operated from the city and around 9 crore transactions have taken place from this particular account," the officer said.

The mobile number took the cybercops to a 29-year-old woman from the upscale Khar Link Road. She was identified as Jyotsana Chaturvedi. While they took her in custody based on their initial investigation on August 17, the Bandra magistrate court felt the police case wasn't that strong and was inclined to give her bail. But the court sensed the matter was serious and added a few bail conditions that she could not immediately fulfil. This effectively meant that she was in police custody.

"In 48 hours, our team worked hard and managed to extract some very crucial details and found the number in which she was getting transaction alerts was associated with almost dozens of accounts, which was hinting towards a larger Bitcoin scam. We then presented these facts before the court and managed to get her custody for a week," said Hemraj Rajput, DCP cyber.

The cops questioned Chaturvedi for a week and learnt that she had opened, over the past year, at least 100 current accounts in many banks of which at least 14 of them were in use. While one - which received the complaint's money - had 9 crore transactions, the police came across 4-5 crore transactions in the other accounts.

The police also found that she had opened at least 20 shell companies using fake KYC.

Bankers' role

The cyber police said some bank officials provided her with copies of Aadhaar and PAN cards of their customers to Gumasta licence from BMC, which can be procured online and then the same can be used to open current accounts. They then tracked down Vaishnavjyoti Pitta, 24, of HDFC Bank and Ashwin Tambe, 28, of Kotak bank for allegedly sharing the vital documents with Chaturvedi. "They [the bankers] used to get a commission for opening accounts and, in some cases, they gave some lumpsum to the account holders whose KYC was used," said the officer.

The police arrested Pitta and Tambe on August 24 and September 1 respectively. After a detailed investigation, all three were remanded in judicial custody and their bail applications were accepted on September 7.

Sources said the city cops have written to investby.com but have not received any response. Since the initial calls to the complainant had +44 code and gave the impression that it came from London, the cops suspect it was being handled from China as the role of Chinese nationals has been found in several Bitcoin scams.

The cyber cops have also found that Chaturvedi, the main accused in the case, was directly in touch with the Chinese masterminds operating the Bitcoin scam and gave the fake account to them.

Rs 36 lakh
Amount complainant lost to the scam

9 crore
No. of transactions in account linked to accused

14
No. of accounts woman was operating