Indian Authorities Confiscate $190M from BitConnect Fraud
- Indian officials seize $190M in assets amid BitConnect Ponzi scheme probe.
- ED investigates global Ponzi scam, tracking crypto transactions and seizing cash, SUV, devices.
Indian officials have confiscated $190 million approximately Rs 1,646 crore during its investigation into BitConnect cryptocurrency fraud. The investigation was done by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Ahmedabad as part of the ongoing investigation into the global Ponzi scheme, which collapsed in 2018.
On Saturday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) stated that it has started the inquiry under the provisions of the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act (PMLA). The investigation was based on the FIRs registered by the CID (Crime) police station, Surat in 2018. The ED mentioned that the scammers allegedly gathered assets from investors across the globe, including India.
ED Seized the SUV and Cash too
The probe agency also confiscated $15,582 approximately 13.50 lakh in cash, an SUV a sport utility vehicle, and other digital devices through multiple locations across Gujarat.
The ED assigned a team of tech experts who investigate the transactions that take place through various crypto wallets to track down the owner of these wallets. During the investigation, it was revealed that various transaction was done with the help of the dark web to make it untraceable.
All the seized assets are linked to Bitconnect associates who were indulging in the scamming of 4,000 investors across 95 countries. In this scam, the investor lost over $2.4 billion. In just two years of launch, Bitconnect collapsed.
Satish Kumbhani turned out to be a mastermind of this, who built a global network of promoters and paid them to market their Ponzi scheme. ED also revealed an interesting incident regarding this where two victims of this case handle things personally. They kidnapped two of Kumbhanis employees and extorted 2,091 Bitcoin, 11,000 Litecoin, and $1.7 million for their release.
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Text source: TheNewsCrypto – Blockchain & Cryptocurrency News M
