Ed seizes ‘Biggest’ Crypto Fund of Rs. 1,646 Crore in Case of Fraud, Bitcoin

In the last few years, cases of criplocharcy -related fraud have increased rapidly. In a similar case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized a cryptocurrency worth Rs 1,646 crore in the investigation of forgery under the guise of investment in securities. It was fraudulent with a large number of deposits.

ED’s Ahmedabad office in Gujarat raided last Saturday in an investigation into this fraud of sales of securities as investments through Bitconnect Lending Program. The case was registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after an FIR from the Crime Branch of Gujarat Police. In this, the ED had imposed a team of technical experts by the ED to investigate the transactions done in many crypto wallets and detect the controllers of these crypto wallets. The investigation found that many transactions were done through ‘Dark Web’, which was difficult to track them.

Official sources, who are aware of the case, said that the ED had tracked several web wallets to detect cryptocurrency associated with this fraud as well as detection of complexes where digital devices that keep this cryptocurrency were present. In this, cryptocurrency of about Rs 1,646 crore seized after investigation has been transferred to an ED’s special crypto wallet. This is the greatest seizure of virtual digital assets from ED. Further investigation is being done in this case of fraud.

The founder of the unruly firm Bitconnect created a network of promoters in many countries and was rewarded as a commission. To attract investors, a Propritory Trading Bot of Bitconnect was laughed. In this, the investors were given the pretense of returns of up to 40 percent per month on their funds. Screenshots of fake returns were also posted on the portal of Bitconnect. In this case, ED had earlier seized assets worth about Rs 489 crore. Government agencies in America are investigating the main accused in the case.