Andhra Pradesh CID busts Rs 15-cr crypto fraud spread across 3 continents

A chargesheet was filed against the accused before the Sixth Additional Junior Civil Judge-cum-Special Court for CID cases in Guntur, which issued an order for the return of the property on October 30.

Thirteen digital wallets, two fraudulent platforms and a trail spanning at least five countries in three continents — that’s how the Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (CID) claims to have cracked a transnational cryptocurrency investment fraud involving approximately USD 1.5 million (Rs 15 crore).

Following its investigation and identification of the accused, a court has directed a cryptocurrency company to convert the identified assets into USDT, a cryptocurrency stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, and transfer the amount to the Andhra Pradesh-based victim, the CID said.

According to the police, the victim was allegedly induced to invest in cryptocurrency on the promise of high returns and cheated of Rs 15 crore. A case was registered at the CID police station in Mangalagiri last October on a complaint by the Tenali-based victim.

Investigators said an organised transnational cybercrime syndicate routed the alleged proceeds of the fraud through multiple cryptocurrency wallets and international platforms to conceal their origin and movement. The victim initially transferred funds from her bank accounts to 13 non-custodial cryptocurrency wallets — one linked to Robinhood and 12 on Onchain, according to investigators.

On the instructions of the accused, she allegedly transferred cryptocurrency from these wallets to two investment platforms, Honeycomapi.org and Alibarbit.bit, believing them to be legitimate.

According to the CID, 27 cryptocurrency transactions involving Bitcoin, Solana and Dogecoin, worth approximately USD 1.5 million, were made to the platforms. The funds were subsequently routed through multiple layers of transactions and mule accounts to obscure their origin and movement before reaching Gate Global Corporation, a cryptocurrency exchange based in the Cayman Islands, investigators said.

“Through detailed blockchain transaction analysis, technical expertise and international coordination, the CID successfully traced the movement of the defrauded cryptocurrency and identified the assets linked to the accused,” CID DGP Ravi Shankar Ayyanar said.

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Fifteen Bitcoin transactions were traced to four accounts on the Gate.io exchange, which investigators said were linked to the syndicate. The identified assets were frozen through judicial proceedings.

The investigation involved technical assistance and coordination with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre under the Union Home Ministry. The CID said it had arrested two accused from Hyderabad and two from Maharashtra. Four other accused are believed to be based abroad — one in Malaysia, two in China and one in Portugal.

A chargesheet was filed against the accused before the Sixth Additional Junior Civil Judge-cum-Special Court for CID cases in Guntur, which issued an order for the return of the property on October 30.