Two brothers have been detained by the cyber police on suspicion of defrauding a former businessman of Rs 1.57 crore by pretending to be tax consultants and offering him substantial returns on his cryptocurrency investment.

According to the police, the two residents of Undri took the cryptocurrency from the man’s e-wallet while he was in Dubai. 

Pavankumar Tatvedi and his brother Pankajkumar were taken into custody by a police team, who also took two mobile phones, three SIM cards, Dubai identity cards, and euros valued at Rs 36,000 from them. They were using their home as a tax consultation office.

Despite having their headquarters in Dubai, the pair continued to travel between the United Arab Emirates capital and Jodhpur and Pune. Their original hometown is Jodhpur. Pavankumar was taken into custody by the police on Thursday night, and his brother the next evening. They were remanded in police custody until December 1 by a local court on Saturday.

The business is currently run by his son, as the businessman, who used to own several stores, has retired. On July 19, the retired businessman filed a complaint with the Cyber police against Pavankumar.

According to a police official, the retired businessman chose to invest in cryptocurrencies through Pavankumar after talking about the profit. He sent Pavankumar some money, and after he opened an e-wallet for his target, he purchased cryptocurrencies valued at Rs 1.57 crore.

The elderly man was using his e-wallet to transact cryptocurrency on an online exchange when Pavankumar suggested that he purchase an online nano ledger wallet. Through Pavankumar, the elderly man purchased the ledger wallet. But, Pavankumar left Pune in June, taking the ledger’s key (an online digital lock) with him. After Pavankumar was placed under incommunicado for an extended period, the victim went to the police.

The police used the reverse blockchain tracking system to locate the online cryptocurrency exchange and collect information. The bank accounts used to transact in these cryptocurrencies were also the source of information that the police requested from the exchange. The exchange and banks provided them with information. Pavankumar had used the ledger wallet, for which he possessed the key, they realized. The business dealings had happened in Dubai.

After that, the police tracked him down in Dubai and began monitoring his whereabouts. The two brothers touched down at Mumbai airport on November 16. They traveled to Rajasthan’s Jodhpur rather than Pune. They took a plane from Jodhpur to Pune, arriving at Lohegaon airport on Thursday. Pavankumar was then taken into custody by the police. Investigations further showed that the cheating also involved Pavankumar’s brother. He was taken into custody by the police on Friday.

According to the cyber police investigation, Pavankumar used non-KYC wallets to send some cryptocurrency to Pakistan. According to the police, Pavankumar met some citizens of Pakistan in Dubai and exchanged cryptocurrency with them.

Tags: Crypto News