2 held for duping people on pretext of bitcoin mining, trading

Two men were arrested for allegedly duping people of large sums of money after luring them into bitcoin mining and trading on the promise of high returns since December 2016, the police said today.

They also falsely claimed that their online portal was being operated by a US based company, they said.

Cyber Crime Cell of the police received a complaint that Deepak Jangra (37) and Deepak Malhotra (56) had duped multiple investors by making false representation and assurances, the police said.

They used the concept of multi-level marketing which runs on the basic principle of referral incomes from the new members, payouts from individuals investment and other benefits. The accused used to attract investors by holding meetings and parties in various five star hotels in the national capital region, they said.

Initially the investors got the due returns which helped in adding new investors and multiple investments from the existing clients. After a few days, they accused stopped paying returns, the police said.

The fact was that there was no bitcoin mining or trading platform of the company. The whole scheme was to get the investment with the predesigned motive to cheat, they said.

Jangra abscond in February. Following raids, he was arrested on April 11. Subsequently, his accomplice was also nabbed, the police said.