Chennai: The cybercrime wing of the state police has arrested four men, including two linked to a Cambodian handler, for defrauding a Theni mill owner of 88.6 lakh in the name of cryptocurrency. The fraudsters contacted the him via a fake matrimonial profile.
In the past 15 months, TN has reported 379 complaints on National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal relating to cyber frauds perpetrated through matrimonial websites. Police cautioned the public to watch out for such scams.
The cybercrime headquarters has highlighted a recent modus operandi employed by fraudsters. These criminals create fake profiles on matrimonial platforms, gain people’s trust by posing as prospective brides and grooms, and later introduce their targets to fraudulent high-return investment opportunities, including real estate, stocks, forex, and cryptocurrency trading.
In the Theni case, the victim had registered on the matrimonial app Sangam, where he was matched with a profile named ‘Shree Harini’. “The suspect built a relationship with the victim and, after gaining his trust, claimed that ‘she’ had earned much through cryptocurrency trading. The victim was manipulated into investing 88.6 lakh through 25 transactions,” a source said.
Following the victim’s complaint, Theni police registered an FIR. On the digital trail, police found that the accounts were registered under two women who worked as daily wage labourers. These women were paid 2,000 each by one of the accused, C Nandagopal, 30, from Erode, for opening the bank accounts.
Nandagopal then handed over these accounts to R Yuvarajan, 33, from Erode and S Padmanaban, 32, from Coimbatore. They were in touch with a Cambodian handler via Telegram. Another, S Siva, 30, from Erode, was also arrested for his involvement in the fraud. During investigation, police seized 3.9 lakh in cash, six mobile phones, 29 debit cards, 18 cheque books, 12 bank passbooks, and 46 SIM cards.