The woman asked Colin whether he is interested in investing in Bitcoins, to which he replied positively
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A 50-year-old man from Kurla lost Rs 17.50 lakh in bitcoin investment fraud. The complainant had received a WhatsApp message asking to invest in bitcoins to get a good profit. 'Bristol Trading Ltd', a company, which claimed to provide maximum profit allegedly duped the man. An offence has been registered against unknown persons in Nehru Nagar police station.
Colin Buthello, 50, a resident of Kurla (W), received a message on September 16, 2021, by the name of Nimah Sarah claiming to be a Bitcoin analyst. The woman asked Colin whether he is interested in investing in Bitcoins, to which he replied positively. Sarah told Colin that she knew a few companies which deal in Bitcoins and generate huge profits. After a few days, Nimah messaged Colin a name of a company, Bristol Trading Limited, and claimed that the company gives a profit of as much as 150 per cent. But having no money to invest Colin dropped the idea of investing.
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In January 2022, Nimah again messaged Colin asking to invest, to which Colin got ready. Nimah shared a weblink with him and asked to register on it. After registration, Nimah asked him to download a money exchange app. The app was well known hence, Colin trusted the process.
After downloading the app, the women asked to pay Rs 100 to a company named Awlencan Innovations India Ltd, having an account in Ahemdabad. Nimah told him to invest a minimum of 200 USD which accounts for Rs 17,250. After 10 days, when Colin checked his account and found that he earned 30 per cent profit. On January 21, Nimah again messaged him saying the company is earning good in Bitcoins and he should invest USD 30,000 (Rs 20 lakh), but Colin did not have much money. He agreed on investing Rs 50,000 on the next day and earned a profit of Rs 17,350 from it.
"The imposter woman again asked the victim to invest USD 30,000, but he told he can not invest that much money. To which the woman claimed, she will jointly invest with him and asked to pay Rs 15 lakh and she will invest Rs 7 lakh. The victim then sent Rs 15.35 lakh in 5 transactions. From January 28 to March 8," said an officer from Nehru Nagar police station.
When Colin asked to withdraw the invested money, the imposter woman told him that as the money has been invested jointly he has to pay USD 500 (Rs 37,500) as a transfer fee. Trusting her, Colin paid the money on March 20. But after a few days woman told she mistakenly told USD 500 as fees which are actually USD 1500. The victim was waiting to get back the invested amount of Rs 75,000. When the money was not returned, he again contacted the woman and asked for money to which he was again made to pay Rs 16,000 claiming the previous money was sent to a different wallet.
But after a few days, the link used for chatting and reflecting profit got blocked. Nimah Sarah, who was chatting through WhatsApp also stopped responding. After which Colin rushed to Nehru Nagar police station and filed a complaint. After verifying the facts, cops registered FIR against the unknown on August 21.
"We have lodged an FIR against an unknown person under IPC 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating) and relevant sections of the IT act. We are working on the technical details of the link and the WhatsApp number" told Chandrashekhar Bhabal, senior inspector of Nehru Nagar police station. No arrests have been made yet.
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