Connect with us

Crypto

NFTs, crypto & a web of deceit: How a Bengaluru digital artist was duped

Published

on

NFTs, crypto & a web of deceit: How a Bengaluru digital artist was duped

Bengaluru: A dubious website, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and cryptocurrency payments formed the crux of a scam that saw a 71-year-old digital artist in East Bengaluru getting conned into paying about Rs 1.58 lakh over a non-existent sale.

Shivaprasad R (name changed), a practising chartered accountant (CA), said he began doing digital art during the Covid-19 pandemic and nearly 50 of his paintings were part of several exhibitions in Bengaluru. His works were also uploaded on his Facebook and Instagram accounts.

In October 2023, a person claiming to be an NFT art dealer on Facebook introduced Shivaprasad to www.nfttradeplace.com — a marketplace for NFTs which are digital certificates of ownership for unique items like art, music, etc. stored on a blockchain that works as a digital ledger. Unlike cryptocurrencies, NFTs are distinct and cannot be exchanged on a like-for-like basis.

The “art dealer” told the artist that he was interested in his paintings and offered to buy them. Next, “negotiations” were held through Facebook and email, and 42 Ethereum (ETH) — a type of cryptocurrency worth approximately Rs 1.09 crore as of April 17, when the complaint was filed — was decided as the price.

“The bill was quoted by the victim during the negotiations,” a cybercrime investigator told DH.

Advertisement

Shivaprasad listed four paintings — Climactic, Wuhan Effect-1, Welcome to Kashmir and Climactic (second copy) — with 10, 10, 10 and 12 ETH as going rates, respectively. On February 1, 2024, he made the first payment and sent 0.115 ETH, equivalent to Rs 21,653.72, as “Gas Fee” or transaction fee.

“The victim made the payment from his crypto wallet, which he set up at the scammer’s behest,” the investigator said. As the sale was completed, Shivaprasad raised his first withdrawal request of 6 ETH. He waited for a few days, but no transaction was made. When he checked again, Shivaprasad was asked to pay a “delay fee” as he had held up the withdrawal of the cryptocurrency.

“This delay fee was never discussed nor was it exhibited on the website,” Shivaprasad said in his complaint. “Helpless, since I did not have ETH in my wallet, I asked if I could make the delay fee payment in Indian rupees,” he said.

The fraudsters accepted Shivaprasad’s request and as instructed on the website, the victim made four payments to Mohammed Ekramul Haque and Mohammad Farooq through bank and UPI transfers on February 5 (two payments of Rs 25,000 each), February 6 (Rs 22,000), and February 9 (Rs 50,000).

The last payment of Rs 15,000 was made to SK Humayun through PhonePe on March 15. “Even after making the above-said payments, the website kept asking me for further payments for the withdrawal of 6 ETH,” Shivaprasad said. He added that he hadn’t raised a request for the balance cryptocurrency as he was worried about more demands for payment.

Advertisement

His request to deduct the delay fees from the amount of sale and remit the rest was ignored. 

On April 17, he reached out to the cyber police who opened a case under 66C (punishment for identity theft) and 66D (punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resources) of the Information Technology (IT) Act and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

“The first red flag was when the victim had to pay money in the form of fees,” an officer said. “It is highly difficult to trace cryptocurrency trails. As of now, bank details and domain details of the email address used by the scammers have been sought,” the officer said.

The sale that wasn’t 

The scam centred around a website posing as a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Conman targets senior digital artist, feigning interest in his work Negotiations made through social media and email, with a high cryptocurrency price set for the art Despite completing the sale, fund withdrawal blocked by a ‘delay fee’ Multiple payments extracted from the victim under various pretexts.

Advertisement

(Published 22 April 2024, 02:17 IST)

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Crypto

Op-Ed by Corbin Fraser, CEO of Bitcoin.com: The Bitcoin President Is Making Our Case for Us

Published

on

Op-Ed by Corbin Fraser, CEO of Bitcoin.com: The Bitcoin President Is Making Our Case for Us

What a difference eighteen months makes.

As I write this, a two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran is hours old. Whether it holds is anyone’s guess. The war that the U.S. and Israel launched on February 28 has already killed American service members, destroyed universities and elementary schools, closed the Strait of Hormuz, and sent shockwaves through every market on the planet. The president who promised to end wars threatened, in his own words, that “a whole civilization will die tonight.” Iran’s ambassador at the United Nations called it incitement to genocide. Experts are debating whether the targeting of bridges, railways, and power grids constitutes war crimes. Children in Tehran are dead.

This is not what we signed up for.

The Bitcoin community did not coalesce around a political candidate so that he could become the latest patron of the military-industrial complex. The very machine, by the way, that Bitcoin was conceptually designed to defund. Satoshi’s whitepaper was published in the wreckage of 2008, a year when the Federal Reserve printed billions to bail out banks while governments spent trillions waging wars most citizens never asked for. Bitcoin was, from its genesis block, a protest against exactly this: the unchecked power of states to debase currency in service of violence.

I want to be clear about something: the crypto community’s natural disgust for war is not a political posture. It is a foundational value. We believe that when governments can’t print money at will, they can’t wage wars at will. That is the entire point. What is happening in Iran is a humanitarian catastrophe. Reports of children killed in residential neighborhoods, a major university bombed, human chains of young people forming around power plants to shield them from American missiles. These are not abstractions. They are the human cost of the very system Bitcoin was built to opt out of.

Advertisement

The two-week ceasefire, brokered through Pakistan’s intervention, is a fragile reprieve. Iran has accepted negotiations in Islamabad beginning Friday. But we have already seen what happens when diplomacy is sabotaged. Iran’s IRGC intelligence chief was assassinated mid-conflict, negotiators have been targeted, and the pattern of setting deadlines only to extend them has made the entire process feel performative. Time will tell if this ceasefire holds.

What won’t change is the math. Wars cost money. Money comes from somewhere. And when governments run out of honest revenue, they print. Every dollar created to fund conflict is a dollar that steals purchasing power from the people who earn it. Every bomb dropped on Iranian bridges is paid for with dollars. Every aircraft carrier repositioned to the Persian Gulf runs on the full faith and credit of the United States Treasury. Every escalation widens the deficit, increases the pressure on the Fed, and further erodes the credibility of the dollar as a neutral global reserve currency.

Bitcoin fixes this. Not through slogans, but through mathematics. A hard cap of 21 million. No Federal Reserve. No emergency printing. No backdoor funding of wars the public never authorized.

To my fellow travelers in the Bitcoin and crypto space: I understand the disillusionment. Many of us believed that political engagement would accelerate adoption and protect our industry. But we should never have expected a politician, any politician, to embody the values of decentralization. That was always our job. Bitcoin doesn’t need a president. It needs users. It needs people who look at what’s unfolding on their screens right now and decide they’d rather hold an asset that no government can inflate to fund the next war.

If the intent of Trump as the de facto “ Bitcoin President” is to embolden our beliefs more in voting with our feet, in selling more USD for BTC, then he’s doing a hell of a job.

Advertisement

_________________________________________________________________________

Bitcoin.com accepts no responsibility or liability, and shall not be liable, whether directly or indirectly, for any loss, damage, claim, cost, or expense of any kind, whether actual, alleged, or consequential, arising out of or in connection with the use of, or reliance upon, any content, goods, or services referenced in this article. Any reliance placed on such information is strictly at the reader’s own risk.

Continue Reading

Crypto

Strategy Signals Bitcoin Supply Shock With 2.2x New BTC Supply Acquired and 24,675 BTC Gain

Published

on

Strategy Signals Bitcoin Supply Shock With 2.2x New BTC Supply Acquired and 24,675 BTC Gain

Key Takeaways:

  • Strategy Inc. reported acquiring 94,470 BTC in 2026, reaching 2.2x bitcoin supply absorption.
  • Bitcoin treasury metrics indicate 3.7% yield, generating 24,675 BTC worth about $1.7 billion.
  • Michael Saylor stated sub-$100K bitcoin window may close in 2026 amid rising demand.

Strategy Bitcoin Accumulation Outpaces Network Supply Growth

Strategy Inc. (Nasdaq: MSTR) shared on social media platform X on April 7 that it accumulated bitcoin faster than new issuance. The firm emphasized supply absorption and yield performance. The update framed its activity against bitcoin’s fixed issuance schedule and tightening supply dynamics.

The update outlines year-to-date performance figures showing acquisition at 2.2 times the natural bitcoin supply alongside a BTC yield of 3.7% and a BTC gain of 24,675, valued at approximately $1.7 billion. The accompanying image breaks down how this performance developed across both quarterly and cumulative periods. In Q1 2026, Strategy reported acquiring 89,599 BTC while generating a BTC yield of 3.2% and a BTC gain of 21,329. The visual also presents a corresponding dollar gain of $1.4 billion for the quarter. Year-to-date totals extend these figures to 94,470 BTC acquired, reflecting continued accumulation and improved yield efficiency over time.

Bitcoin Supply Mechanics Highlight Strategy Market Impact

Bitcoin supply mechanics provide the baseline for measuring this activity. Following the 2024 halving, each mined block produces 3.125 BTC, while the network averages about 144 blocks per day. This results in roughly 450 BTC entering circulation daily, a figure observable through on-chain data. Over a period of roughly 90 to 100 days, issuance totals about 40,000 to 45,000 BTC. Against this level, Strategy’s reported acquisition of 94,470 BTC results in a ratio slightly above 2.0x, aligning with its stated 2.2x depending on timing and block production variability.

Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor framed this dynamic through the concept of supply absorption, describing how capital access allows entities to outpace bitcoin’s fixed issuance. He recently stated: “We can buy more bitcoin than they can sell.” With roughly 450 BTC produced daily, sustained buying can absorb both newly mined coins and available exchange liquidity. Saylor also described a reflexive flywheel, where capital raises fund additional bitcoin purchases, reducing available supply and increasing volatility. The approach emphasizes that bitcoin’s limited supply creates competition among market participants, framing the asset as digital property with constrained acreage. He added: “2026 will be known as the last year you could buy bitcoin at sub-$100K.”

Advertisement

Additional dashboard data expands on the company’s broader financial and market positioning alongside its bitcoin strategy. Strategy shows a share price of $123.63 with a daily decline of 3.18%, while reporting a market capitalization of $42.88 billion and an enterprise value of $59.17 billion. The dashboard lists trading volume at $724 million and a 30-day average trading volume of $2.62 billion. Volatility metrics include 76% implied volatility, 55% 30-day historical volatility, and 72% one-year historical volatility. The company also reports open interest of $29.97 billion, an mNAV ratio of 1.13, and an amplification figure of 36%, indicating how equity performance relates to underlying bitcoin exposure.

Continue Reading

Crypto

Crypto Investment Scams Were the Most Costly Type of Fraud in the U.S. in 2025

Published

on

Crypto Investment Scams Were the Most Costly Type of Fraud in the U.S. in 2025

Americans lost $7.2 billion to crypto investment scams in 2025, according to a new report from the FBI, making it the top source of financial losses from fraud reported to the agency last year. Many people don’t call the FBI after getting scammed, which means the real total is likely far larger.

The news comes from the FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) annual report, released Monday, which tracks not just crypto investment fraud, but online scams targeting the elderly, and ranswomware attacks, among others. The agency received 1,008,597 total complaints in 2025, up from 859,532 complaints in 2024. The total amount lost was over $20 billion last year.

Investment fraud was the most common type of scam reported, accounting for 49% of all cyber-related complaints in 2025, with a majority of those related to crypto investment scams.

Crypto investment scammers make an effort to appear like legitimate operations, promising huge returns to unsuspecting marks. Victims are first contacted through a number of ways, including text messages, social media, Google ads, and dating apps. Scammers will sometimes set up websites made to look like investment platforms where victims can send crypto and watch as their profits tick up steadily.

What the victim doesn’t understand is that the number they’re seeing rise each day is fake. The crypto has been sent to the scammers and the number they’re seeing in their supposed account is not real. The website is a mirage that isn’t actually holding their crypto, whether it’s bitcoin, ether, or any number of shitcoins. But as that number rises, the scammers encourage the victims to “invest” even more.

Advertisement

What happens when you try to extract any of that money? That’s where the victim might start to get suspicious. Because there’s always an excuse. And more often than not, the scammers will tell a victim that there are fees for withdrawing money.

The FBI has released its IC3 report annually for 25 years and 2025 is the first year that features a section on artificial intelligence. The FBI received 22,364 complaints about AI-assisted crimes, totaling $893 million in lost money. But that’s likely a vast undercount of the problem, given the fact that many people don’t send a report to the FBI when they get scammed, and others likely have no idea they’re talking with people who uses AI tools for impersonation.

Scammers will often use AI audio, video deepfakes, or fake documents created with generative AI imaging tools to convince victims they’re legitimate. Elon Musk is one of the most popular figures that crypto scammers will impersonate, as Gizmodo has reported in recent years. Scammers will often try to convince potential victims that they’re talking to the real Tesla CEO and convince people to invest in his businesses with cryptocurrencies.

Gizmodo filed a Freedom of Information Act request with FTC in 2024 that revealed some of the stories from people who were scammed by Elon Musk impersonators or people who said they were associated with the billionaire. One of the complaints was from a victim in their 50s from Michigan who said they lost $700,000.

The story is exceptional for the amount of money lost, but the techniques are common enough that they’re worth quoting at length:

Advertisement

In the end of June, 2023 I responded to Elon Musk’s day trading commercial on Instagram. I got a phone call from a person and started online trading with XT-BestSolutions. I’m dealing with one person [redacted] over the Viber phone services. He said he’s based in Barcelona, Spain. He guided me through the trading process daily on the XT-BestSolutions trading platform.

He also guided me through the process of transferring my money from my US Huntington bank account through Crypto wallets to XT-BestSolutions trading platform. All transaction were made through different Sources to change US dollars to cryptocurrency.

Starting on June 30, 2023 to current date, I transferred $700,000 to my XT-BestSolutions account. Through the process of online trading, XT-BestSolutions company credited me $200,000. Even though I still have more than $700,000 in my XT-BestSolutions trading platform account, I cannot withdraw any money back until I add $200,000 more to my XT-BestSolutions account to cover this additional credit, and after this (accordingly to what he saying) I will be able to withdraw all $900,000.

Its become more suspicious to me because I am not able to get information about the company, such as an address, email address or any other contact information except the phone number and one person I communicating with. [redacted]

My accountant has advised me to contact the FBI before I make anymore money transactions.

Other crypto scams include celebrities like Johnny Depp or Donald Trump, but romance scams are another popular category of investment fraud. Sometimes referred to as pig butchering, scammers will often pose as attractive people who lure unsuspecting marks with promises of love but wind up giving “investment” advice.

Advertisement

Victims are encouraged to contact the FBI, but the public should be aware that there are also plenty of scammers posing as FBI agents, specifically employees of the IC3.

Continue Reading

Trending