Tape surfaces, currency disappears as charges swirl in Bitcoin scam
BENGALURU: Even as the Bitcoin scam is getting curiouser and curiouser, an audio clip of a telephonic conversation, purportedly between two policemen discussing the case involving hacker Srikrishna alias Sriki, is doing the rounds. While one is trying to seek information on those behind the case, the other one says biggies, at the ministers’ level, are involved.
The person seeking information is purportedly a senior police officer, while the other sharing it is said to be a lower-rung staff, who is part of the investigation team probing the Bitcoin case. The caller asks about the transactions, and the staff replies that bigwigs have been paid off using Bitcoins, but refuses to reveal the names, saying he is not completely sure. When the officer insists, the staff says it has happened at the ministers’ level in 2018. The officer asks whether the Home Minister’s name too has been mentioned, and the staff replies in the negative and says names of some IPS officers are there.
When the names of IPS officers are asked, the staff starts talking about some other development. The top officer is also assured by the staffer that his name is not involved in the scam. Meanwhile, sources told TNIE that Sriki could be a key “asset” for further leads into the rampant cryptocurrency and hacking scams in the country that may have national and international ramifications.
“This case could be a tip of the iceberg in cryptocurrency and money laundering scams, which threaten the sovereignty of fiat currency,” said sources. Being the first BTC scam case in Karnataka, many law enforcement agencies, including the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), are keen to crack it but have made no headway for reasons unknown. “In fact, till date, the extent of the BTC fraud and the names of people behind it are not known,” said informed sources.
Tapes, coins, lies — it gets curiouser
Srikrishna ’s claims of hacking international websites and cryptocurrency exchanges are yet to be verified by Interpol. The city police in April had written to the international police agency sharing details of the claims that the fraudster had made. His claim of possessing 31 BTCs in his wallet allegedly turned out to be false, said sources.
“On January 8 this year, Srikrishna had shown the police what he claimed to be his wallet, which contained 31 BTCs. The police with the help of technical experts from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Department of e-governance and a cryptocurrency exchange tried to block the wallet by changing the key. A panchnama was drawn and it was submitted to the court.
On January 22, when the police wanted to recover the BTCs and transfer them to an official SB account with the help of technical experts, they found that there were 86 BTCs. It was then they realised that Srikrishna had hacked into someone else’s private wallet, which was live and had fooled them. The private key that the experts had created to block the wallet was futile because it was not his wallet.
A second panchnama was drawn the same day showing the details and submitted to the court,” added the sources. “When he was in judicial custody, the prison authorities were reportedly cautioned by the police about keeping a strict vigil on him to ensure that he doesn’t get hold of a mobile phone, which he may use for hacking,” added the sources.
“His security is important for further probe into the cryptocurrency scam, hacking and data theft. It will not be a surprise if he leaves the country because of the mounting pressure on him. He has been reportedly nurtured by politicians from across parties and on whose patronage he became big. He has used it to live a lavish life. He has reportedly defaulted on payments in some luxury hotels, where he had stayed and partied using his political connections,” said sources, who also drew the attention on the timing of the political buzz around the crime, which was unearthed almost a year ago.
Srikrishna was arrested in November last year under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act in a drug-related case. He had told the police that he used to buy drugs on the Darknet using cryptocurrency. The storm around the BTC scam became big after an anonymous petition to the PM alleging corruption charges against some leading politicians, a former CM’s son and the police, including IPS officers and one officer’s son in the BTC scam surfaced and landed in the hands of Siddaramaiah.