Pune: The Bund Garden police have registered an FIR against 23 individuals accused of cheating at least 22 people from across the country out of Rs 14.7 crore in a cryptocurrency-based investment scam. The police said 750 people across India could have been affected in the scam and that cases were registered in different states.
The case was registered after a 25-year-old farmer from Shetphal Gade village in Indapur taluka told the police that he and his family had invested Rs 22.7 lakh with the cryptocurrency platform. Subsequently, 21 others came forward, stating they too had been cheated. A friend told the farmer in Aug 2023 to attend a seminar organised by the crypto platform at a hotel in Baner, according to the complaint. The police said the suspects kept insisting that the investors park more money with the platform or bring in more investors and assured them their full investments would be returned in phases between Jan and March 2026.
“At the seminar, the promoters guaranteed returns of at least 6% per month, with the amount credited to investors’ bank accounts on the sixth of every month,” a police officer said. There were red flags all along — several investors told the police that from the start, the platform never showed them any proof of investment despite repeated demands. “Despite repeated assurances, the investors never got their money back and the promoters stopped responding to calls,” the officer said.
Investments were always made through bank transfers or in cash and there was no way for them to check the value of their portfolios.
These problems compounded in Feb 2025, when Enforcement Directorate started an investigation into the platform and froze all business activity, including withdrawals.