Hyderabad: A major cyber fraud has come to light in which a 63-year-old retired man from Vanasthalipuram was allegedly cheated of around ₹56.8 lakh through a fake “digital gold trading” and cryptocurrency investment scheme involving USDT transactions. The scammers used a fabricated online trading platform to lure the victim with promises of high and guaranteed returns.
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Telegram Group to Lure Victim
According to police, the victim was added to a Telegram group on April 7, where a woman identifying herself as “Nandhini Reddy” contacted him. She claimed to be an expert in digital gold and crypto trading and assured him that the platform offered secure investments with fixed, high profits. The victim was convinced that the scheme was legitimate due to repeated assurances and early “profit” displays.
The victim initially invested ₹49,999, which was allegedly converted into USDT cryptocurrency and reflected in an online trading account. Within a few days, the platform began showing small but consistent artificial profits, which further strengthened his trust in the system. Encouraged by these fake returns, he continued investing in multiple installments.
Over time, the victim transferred funds in several transactions, eventually investing a total of ₹56.84 lakh. The accused repeatedly showed inflated account balances on the trading dashboard, creating an illusion of rapid financial growth and encouraging further deposits.
Fake Profits And Withdrawal Demand
However, when the victim attempted to withdraw his funds, the fraudsters introduced a new condition. They demanded an additional ₹25.52 lakh as a “7% exchange fee” and service charges, claiming that the platform had been upgraded and withdrawals required extra processing payments. This tactic is commonly used to extract more money from victims before cutting off communication.
Despite repeated attempts to recover his money, the victim received no response. Eventually, he realized he had been trapped in a coordinated cyber fraud scheme. He then approached the Malkajgiri Cyber Crime Police and lodged a complaint.
Police have registered a case against unidentified accused persons under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act. Investigators have begun tracing digital transactions and examining financial trails linked to multiple bank accounts used in the scam.
Crypto Trail and Wider Network Under Probe
Preliminary findings suggest that the fraud may be part of a larger organized cybercrime network operating through social media platforms and fake cryptocurrency trading websites. These networks often use professional-looking interfaces to mislead victims into believing they are engaging in legitimate investments.
Cybersecurity experts say that such “digital gold” and crypto scams typically follow a pattern: initial small investments are rewarded with fake profits to build trust, followed by larger deposits. Once significant amounts are collected, withdrawal requests are blocked or tied to additional fake charges, making fund recovery nearly impossible. Difficulty in tracing transactions once funds are routed through multiple wallets and accounts.
