Crypto
Pune businessman duped of ₹1.57 cr in cryptocurrency fraud, two held
The city cyber police arrested two brothers for duping a city-based businessman to the tune of ₹1.57 crore in cryptocurrency ledger nano wallet fraud.
The accused have been identified as Pavankumar Tatwavedi (36) and his brother Pankaj Raghuveer Tatwavedi (35), both from Jodhpur in Rajasthan.
Police said both accused are now settled in Dubai and they duped people by pretending to be tax consultants.
The incident was reported in May 2023 and a case was registered in July 2023. Since then, the accused was in Dubai hence police were unable to arrest them.
Pavankumar was arrested from the flight when he was about to leave for Dubai.
Officials from the Pune cyber cell said that the accused Pavankumar approached the victim as a tax consultant. After gaining confidence, he suggested the victim invest in cryptocurrency to get handsome returns.
After gaining confidence, the accused suggested buying a cryptocurrency ledger nano wallet to park his cryptocurrency in digital format. The victim was unaware of it, hence the accused helped him to buy and store the victim’s cryptocurrency in his wallet.
Meenal Supe-Patil, senior police inspector at cyber cell Pune, said, “The accused stole 24 character password of the nano wallet and by using it transferred cryptocurrency in another nano wallet in Dubai and duped the victim for the tune of ₹1.57 crore.’’
As olice were keeping watch on both accused, on November 16, the accused landed in India when he was arrested.
Police sub-inspector Dhanaji Tone, said, “We got information about the accused coming to Pune on November 23 by taking Jodhpur to Pune flight and was planning to leave for Dubai. Hence we laid a trap at Pune airport and arrested him.’’
During his interrogation, police got to know about his brother Pankaj and arrested him from Pune on November 24.
Both were produced in court and the court granted them police custody till December 1.
Police further revealed that the accused duo duped many more such people to the tune of ₹8 crore and investigation regarding the same is underway.
A case has been registered at a cyber police station under sections 419,420, 406 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).