Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh) [India], July 15 (ANI): A 70-year-old chartered accountant from Gwalior was allegedly duped of over Rs 21 crore in a cyber fraud in lieu of cryptocurrency investment in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior district, a police officer said.
The victim, Ashok Vijayvargiya, a resident of Roshni Ghar area in Gwalior, was lured into investing in USDT cryptocurrency trading by fraudsters in December 2025. Initially, he received good returns, which helped the fraudsters gain his confidence.
Later, in the first week of July, he realised he had been cheated, following which he approached the State Cyber Cell office in Gwalior on July 10 and lodged a complaint.
State Cyber Cell, Gwalior, Deputy Superintendent Police (DSP), Sanjeev Nayan Sharma said, “The victim is a senior chartered accountant from Gwalior, around 70 years of age. In December 2025, he came into contact with a woman who introduced herself as Divya Singh and claimed to be from Bengaluru. During their conversations, she persuaded him to invest money in USDT trading. The victim initially invested Rs 1 lakh and received a return of around Rs 1.84 lakh, which helped the fraudsters gain his confidence.”
After receiving the initial return, he continued investing and eventually invested around Rs 10 to Rs 12 crore. The profits were visible only on the trading platform and were never credited to his bank account. When the displayed profit reached around Rs 30 crore, he sought to withdraw the amount. The fraudsters then demanded tax payments, claiming that once the tax was paid, the money would be released, the officer explained.
“The fraudsters claimed tax amounting to Rs 11 crore was payable, following which the victim deposited around Rs 5.5 crore. The remaining amount was allegedly shown as being contributed by the woman. In total, the victim invested around Rs 21 crore before realising he had been cheated. He then lodged a complaint with the State Cyber Zone office in Gwalior on July 10. The victim began making investments from December 2025 and continued till the first week of July 2026,” Sharma said.
The officer further said that the money trail revealed an extensive network of bank accounts. Payments were initially made to around 77 bank accounts through approximately 106 transactions, with some accounts receiving more than one transaction. In the second layer, the money was transferred to around 700 accounts, while in the third layer, it was routed through nearly 12,000 accounts.
“So far, we have frozen around Rs 2 crore and are collecting details of account holders linked to the first and second layers of transactions. As soon as we receive evidence, teams will be dispatched to trace those involved,” the DSP said.
He added that preliminary findings indicate that the cyber fraud network is being operated from other countries including Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand.
“They often procure bank accounts from poor and labour-class people by gaining their trust and then use those accounts to carry out cyber fraud,” the officer said.
Further investigation into the matter is underway, he added. (ANI)
Related reading
