BHUBANESWAR : The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Crime Branch arrested two persons including a former Rajasthan constable for their alleged involvement in duping investors to the tune of over `15 crore in a cryptocurrency scam.
Police identified the accused as Ved Prakash of Rajasthan and Sudhir Patel of Sundargarh. Initial investigation suggests the duo cheated around 500 investors belonging to Puri, Khurda, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh and Bargarh districts.
Prakash, a Plus II dropout, worked as a constable with Rajasthan police but was later dismissed from service on charges of misconduct and dereliction of duty. He reportedly came in contact with Patel through some fraudsters based out of Kolkata.
Police said the duo lured people to invest in cryptocurrency through agencies like ENG Crypto, Entice Capital, USDT Club, ADS exchange and others, on the promise of providing them hefty returns with low investments.
Prakash and Patel carried out extensive promotional activities in different parts of the state by organising meetings where they told investors that their money would get doubled in a very short period of time. They also asked them to arrange new depositors to avail extra benefits. EOW IG Jai Narayan Pankaj said the accused used fake brochures and schemes to lure the investors. “Initially, the investors received small amounts towards returns but the duo closed down their operations after collecting crores of rupees. They were mainly targeting people with less computer knowledge and their money was never invested in cryptocurrency,” he added.
The EOW had registered a case in this connection in December last year but the accused were absconding.