Cashing in on cryptocurrency buzz, a 46-year-old man allegedly swindled ₹10 crore out of gullible investors after promising returns on their investment in the form of bitcoin.
The accused developed a website Coinx trading.com claiming that his company was based in New York and has several branches across the globe and duped over 1,200 people from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh States, said Hyderabad Commissioner of Police Anjani Kumar.
Gardas Ramesh of Old Bowenpally started the website and appointed four others, S. Sathaiah, 53, N. Venkatesh, 33, K. Hari Gopal, 31, and C. Srinivas, 45, to develop his business by attracting more investors, Mr. Kumar said.
Explaining their modus operandi, the Commissioner said the accused used to promise double returns with higher commission to people if they invest in bitcoin, offer various schemes and cheat them.
Acting on a tip-off, the sleuths of North Zone Task Force led by Inspector K. Nageswar Rao raided Ramesh’s office at Old Bownelpally and recovered four sale deed land registration documents worth ₹1.23 crore, three laptops, ₹29.20 lakh, two sedan cars and nine mobile phones, all worth ₹1.8 crore.
As many as 10 cases have been registered against the accused in various police stations in Hyderabad and other parts of the State.
The accused along with the seized property were handed over to Bowenpally police for further investigation.
