Abstract：A 45-year-old land broker from Ahmedabad has allegedly lost Rs 90.2 lakh after a woman he befriended on Facebook and her accomplice drew him into a purported cryptocurrency trading platform called Trust Coin. The cybercrime police registered a complaint in the case on Tuesday, according to the Times of India.
A 45-year-old land broker from Ahmedabad has allegedly lost Rs 90.2 lakh after a woman he befriended on Facebook and her accomplice drew him into a purported cryptocurrency trading platform called Trust Coin. The cybercrime police registered a complaint in the case on Tuesday, according to the Times of India.
ContentsHow the Contact Began
According to the complaint, the victim received a Facebook friend request in January from a woman identifying herself as Madhuri Mehta. After establishing contact, she shared her WhatsApp number and claimed she was earning substantial profits through Trust Coin. She then introduced him to a person identified as Charlie, who allegedly shared a trading website link and guided him through the investment process.
The complainant created an account using his mobile number, Aadhaar details and email address, and initially invested around Rs 1 lakh. The platform subsequently displayed profits approaching Rs 1 crore after he took part in five-day trading contracts. For a first-time reader, that gap between a small deposit and a near-crore balance is the part of such schemes that is hardest to check: the numbers appear on a website controlled by the people running it, not on any exchange or regulated venue.
The Withdrawal Wall and Fresh Demands
When he tried to withdraw the amount, the accused allegedly demanded Rs 21 lakh, claiming his initial investment was insufficient. He later transferred another Rs 28 lakh after being told his account had entered a high-risk category. In effect, the money flowed in one direction only: each attempt to take funds out produced a new reason to pay more in.
The accused then demanded 35,000 USDT to change his wallet address, allegedly claiming that the income tax department and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) suspected money laundering. USDT, or Tether, is a cryptocurrency token designed to hold a value close to one US dollar, which makes it a common channel for moving funds across borders. The complainant approached Sebi's Ahmedabad office, where he learnt that the documents sent to him were fake.
Sebi is India's securities market regulator. Its name carries weight with ordinary savers, and the complaint describes how that authority was allegedly invoked, through documents the complainant later found to be fabricated, to pressure him into paying again.
Where the Money Came from
The complainant alleged that he transferred money through bank transactions and cash deposit machines using accounts belonging to his wife and two friends. After losing Rs 70.6 lakh initially, he was persuaded to transfer another Rs 19.7 lakh for wallet recovery. The accused then stopped responding, while others demanded another Rs 15 lakh.
The victim approached the cybercrime helpline on April 24 and October 24 before filing the complaint. The two helpline dates, months apart, trace a familiar pattern in which a victim keeps paying in the hope of recovering what has already gone, while the people on the other side keep the conversation alive with new fees and new assurances.
What Forex Beginners Can Take from the Complaint
The case turns on a sequence that appears repeatedly in online investment complaints: an unsolicited social media contact, a claim of easy profits, a link to a trading site, a small first deposit, a large paper gain, and then a block on withdrawals that can only be lifted by sending more money. None of the balances shown on such a site are proof that funds exist or can be withdrawn.
For readers who follow currency markets, the USDT element is worth noting. Stablecoin transfers are often presented as a routine step, but once funds leave a bank account they are difficult to trace and recover. The complaint also shows how regulator names can be borrowed to add pressure, which is why documents claiming to come from Sebi or a tax authority should be checked directly with the institution rather than accepted from a counterparty online.
The complaint has been registered and the allegations are yet to be established. The figures above are those stated in the complaint as reported.
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