Mohali Crypto Scam: ₹19.84 Crore Fraud
- Fraudsters siphoned off Rs 19.84 crore from a Ludhiana resident posing as crypto investment operators. - The scheme ran through 76 fake accounts and used an RBI notice to pressure the victim. - Police have registered the case under cyber fraud investigations, raising concerns about crypto scams (amarujala.com).
A Ludhiana man told Mohali cyber police he was cheated out of ₹19.84 crore in a fake cryptocurrency investment scheme run through dozens of bank accounts. (amarujala.com) The complaint says the fraudsters first contacted Jagdeep Singhal on Facebook, then moved the conversation to WhatsApp calls and messages. They posed as customer-care staff for a platform called CoinEx and got him to open an electronic wallet through a fake website. (amarujala.com) Police said the money trail ran through 76 fake accounts opened across 15 banks, including IDFC First Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Axis Bank and Bandhan Bank. The report says the network used fake SIM cards and forged documents to build those accounts. (amarujala.com) This type of fraud usually starts with a small deposit and a dashboard that shows fake profits. In this case, the complainant said the website displayed heavy returns after the first investment, then demanded more money in the name of tax and service charges when he tried to withdraw funds. (amarujala.com) The accused also used a supposed Reserve Bank of India notice to pressure the victim, according to the complaint cited in the report. That detail fits a broader pattern in Indian cyber fraud cases, where scammers mix profit promises with fake regulatory threats to keep victims sending money. (amarujala.com) (indianexpress.com) Mohali’s state cyber crime police station has registered a case against unidentified suspects under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 318(4), 336(3) and 61(2), along with Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, the report said. Singhal has also asked for a special investigation team to probe the case. (amarujala.com) Mohali has seen other large crypto-linked fraud investigations in the past year. In March 2025, police said investors were cheated of about ₹12 crore by a firm that promised to double cryptocurrency investments in 25 months, and in June 2025 police said a Mohali call centre was used in a separate ₹50 crore scam tied to fake crypto alerts. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) (indianexpress.com) The Mohali case now turns on the bank-account trail, the fake website and the phone records behind the Facebook and WhatsApp outreach. For investigators, the key question is who controlled the 76 accounts that moved nearly ₹20 crore out of the victim’s reach. (amarujala.com)
