Alleged 'kingpin' of a 25M rupee Indian crypto scam arrested at Delhi airport

Published at: Jan. 1, 2021

A 60-year-old man was arrested at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on Thursda for allegedly heading a 25 million rupee ($340,000) cryptocurrency scam.

Umesh Verma, a former jeweler and greeting card maker, was held by the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi police after arriving from Dubai.

Police allege that Verma, along with his son Bharat, convinced hundreds to invest in a scheme going by the name of Pluto Exchange, promising monthly returns of 20% to 30%.

The scheme issued a "cryptocurrency" called Coin Zarus in exchange for investments. However, shortly after the scheme launched in November 2017, returns dried up and Verma reportedly dropped off the radar, eventually resurfacing in Dubai in 2018.

Delhi police filed a case of misappropriation of funds against Verma in September 2020, leading to his New Year’s Eve arrest.

According to a report by the Hindustan Times, Pluto Exchange also launched India’s first mobile app for cryptocurrency, promising the ability to buy, sell and store Bitcoin (BTC) using only a mobile number.

Verma had previously been arrested in December 2017 over an unrelated gold smuggling case.

The Indian Supreme Court this year lifted a central bank ban on banks dealing with cryptocurrency firms. However, a recent survey suggested that most investors in the country still see no easy way to gain exposure to crypto assets.

Tags
Business
Scams
Related Posts
Alleged $3.6B crypto Ponzi's 'victims' still believe the exchange is legit
Victims of an alleged $3.6 billion crypto Ponzi scheme in South Korea are reportedly hampering the progress of a police investigation and a joint lawsuit — as they still believe in the project and hold out hopes of getting a return on their investments. On June 4, Korean law firm Daegon reportedly filed a joint complaint against V Global, its CEO, and three executives on behalf of 130 investors and the Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency. The Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency is reportedly investigating V Global for an alleged crypto Ponzi scheme that reportedly defrauded around 69,000 people out of 4 …
Business / June 10, 2021
Cardano Foundation Warns About Suspicious Activities in Japan
The Cardano Foundation — the organization behind major cryptocurrency Cardano (ADA) — warned that a suspicious firm is trying to rake in investments by claiming it has contacts with the foundation. On July 9, the foundation stated that someone claiming to be from or contracted by crypto exchange BTCNEXT professes to personally know the Cardano core members as a way to reassure that investments will be safe. A BTCNEXT representative told Cointelegraph that the person in question does not have any relationship with the company. In fact, she said that they are familiar with the individual behind the claims and …
Altcoin / July 9, 2020
OpenSea customer service migrating from Discord to Metalink to more adequately protect its community
On Tuesday, nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, platform OpenSea launched a server on Metalink to give verified owners of its collections a direct channel for support, feedback, and updates. In addition, OpenSea said it would no longer offer customer support over Discord DMs. Metalink is a collaboration app for NFT communities which offers users a place to view their collection's value and monitor its associated real-time transaction feed. In addition, channels hosted on Metalink are token-gated, meaning that proof of ownership of an NFT or social token is required to access content. According to OpenSea, the platform is making the switch …
Adoption / Feb. 15, 2022
Dingo crypto token flagged as scam over 99% transaction fee backdoor
The research arm of cybersecurity software firm Check Point has flagged the Dingo Token (DINGO) as a “potential scam” after reportedly discovering a smart contract function that has been used to manipulate transaction fees. In a Feb. 3 blog post, Check Point Research (CPR) said it looked into the code behind the Dingo Smart Contract, discovering a backdoor function "setTaxFeePercent," which can change the contract's buy and sell fee up to 99%. This is despite the project’s whitepaper stating that there is only a 10% fee per transaction. According to CPR, this essentially allows the project’s owner to withdraw up …
Blockchain / Feb. 6, 2023
Top 7 cybersecurity jobs in high demand
In today’s digital age, cybersecurity has become a critical aspect of almost every business. Cyber threats are increasing daily, and businesses must take proactive measures to protect their networks and data. As a result, the demand for cybersecurity professionals has skyrocketed. Little Friday humour #meme #cybersecurity @hackurityio pic.twitter.com/MArEpCh03k — Harold De Vries (@devries_harold) February 17, 2023 In this article, we will discuss the top seven cybersecurity jobs that are in high demand. Cybersecurity analyst A cybersecurity analyst is responsible for identifying and mitigating cyber threats to an organization’s network and data. They examine system logs and network traffic to find …
Technology / Feb. 26, 2023