Lisa Roth, a woman from the US, got a call on July 4, 2023, from a person who claimed to be an "agent of Microsoft". He asked her to transfer $400,000 dollars to a cryptocurrency wallet. Little did Ms Roth know that she had fallen victim to a cyber fraud and was duped of Rs 3.3 crore ($400,000).
A year later, the Enforcement Directorate arrested a bookie and a cryptocurrency handler based out of Delhi. Lakshya Vij, the bookie, lives in east Delhi's Dilshad Garden and his name surfaced when last year in March, the Gujarat Police arrested him from the Cross River Mall in east Delhi and it was alleged that a senior police officer of Delhi Police got him released.
How The Woman Was Duped
The money transferred by Ms Roth went to the wallets of Praful Gupta and his mother Sarita Gupta. During the investigation, it was also found that a person named Karan Chug was getting this money from Gupta and deposited it in different wallets.
After this, this amount was transferred to different Indian bogus accounts by selling a cryptocurrency and the money was transferred at the behest of Karan and Lakshya. Later, they used the money received from people on betting apps like Fair Play 24
The probe agency registered a case of money laundering and raided several places last month and recovered digital evidence. Statements of those who owned the crypto wallets that were used in the crime were also recorded.
In the investigation, it was found that the money was transferred to all the wallets at the behest of Lakshya and he is the mastermind of this fraud. The main accused was produced in Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court from where he has been sent on 5-day Enforcement Directorate demand.