CHANDIGARH: Over a thousand state police personnel have fallen victim to a local cryptocurrency racket involving fraudsters in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh. The police said at least one lakh people have been duped and 2.5 lakh IDs, including multiple IDs of the same person, have been seized.
Sources said officials of the Special Investigation Team formed to probe the scam found that most police personnel who had invested in the racket were duped of crores of rupees. However, some of them also made gains, and became promoters in the scheme, roping in more investors.
The scammers launched two cryptocurrencies — ‘Korvio Coin’ (or KRO) and ‘DGT Coin’ — and created fake websites with manipulated prices of these digital currencies. Policemen, teachers and others got involved in the scheme to make quick money. Many police personnel involved suffered losses but their promotion of the scheme created trust among the investors and gave credibility to the so-called investment plan. A few policemen involved in the scheme opted for the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) and became its promoters, sources said.
Police sources said the scam started in 2018 with most of the victims from Mandi, Hamirpur and Kangra districts. The cryptocurrency scammers approached people with an investment plan related to a locally made cryptocurrency known as ‘Korvio Coin’ or KRO coins and charged a fee for getting their accounts activated. At least three kinds of crypto currency were used.
Two main accused Sukhdev and Hemraj, who were earlier in the month arrested from Gujarat, confessed during interrogation that they have outstanding liabilities of Rs 400 crore. The alleged kingpin of the scam, Subash, is still at large. Himachal Pradesh DGP Sanjay Kundu said, “We will get all the wrongdoers. The investigation is progressing in an organised and planned manner. Those involved in the scam will be dealt with sternly as per law.’’