At least 30 people from Solapur lose money on crypto cloud mining app

More than 30 people from Solapur city in Maharashtra have allegedly been cheated of Rs 45 lakh after they invested through a crypto cloud mining app, police said on Tuesday citing complaints.

Police said a case will be registered against three persons who had lured people to download the app and invest money under the pretext of offering hefty returns.

The trio is in the jewellery business in Solapur, said a police officer.

He said so far 30 people have approached the police with complaints of cheating.

"Investors were asked to download the CCH Cloud Miner app and the crypto trading app. They were asked to convert their Indian currency into dollars using the crypto trading app and were made to invest in CCH Cloud Mining App," the officer said.

He said some investors received returns initially.

Cloud mining is a mechanism to mine a cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin, using rented cloud computing power and without having to install and directly run the hardware and related software.

One of the complainants, Ram Jadhav, claimed he had invested Rs 4.28 lakh. He alleged the said app is now defunct and the office of the trio is shut.

"We are in the process of registering a case against the three persons under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the investigation is on," said police inspector Udaysinh Patil.

The Reserve Bank had time and again pointed out the problem with digital assets.