STF arrests civil engineer from Tamil Nadu for duping Nainital resident of Rs 62.5 lakh
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
The Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) arrested a Tamil Nadu resident with a civil engineering degree for allegedly defrauding a Nainital district resident of Rs 62.5 lakh through a cryptocurrency scam executed via a matrimonial website. Acting under Operation Prahar, the Cyber Police Station of Kumaon region of STF carried out the investigation that led to the arrest of Velmurugan, a resident of Jai Nagar in Tiruppur district, Tamil Nadu, the deputy superintendent of police of STF’s cyber crime unit Ankush Mishra said.
He informed that the accused had created a fake profile under the name Arushi Roy on the matrimonial site sangam.com and contacted the victim through the platform. The interaction soon shifted to WhatsApp messaging and calling. Claiming to be a clothing business owner based in Cambodia, the accused persuaded the victim to invest in cryptocurrency through a trading application named Banocoin.
The victim was gradually tricked into transferring Rs 62.5 lakh into various bank accounts under the pretext of making crypto investments. Mishra stated that to build trust, the accused returned a small portion of the invested amount to the victim as profit. The Banocoin app, used in the fraud, displayed false gains to the investor, encouraging further investment. According to DSP, the scam was orchestrated entirely online, using fake identities, fraudulent mobile numbers and multiple bank accounts. He said that the case was assigned to the Cyber Crime Police Station, Kumaon zone in Rudrapur for investigation. With the support of Tamil Nadu Police, the accused was traced and brought to Uttarakhand, where he was presented before the court and remanded to judicial custody at Haldwani.
Mishra said that initial analysis of the bank accounts linked to the fraud revealed transactions of over Rs 4.35 crore within a month. Further checks found that the accused already had multiple cybercrime cases registered against him in Tamil Nadu, including FIRs in Coimbatore, Madurai and Kanchipuram. Further investigation is ongoing, Mishra said. He also urged the public to avoid falling for unsolicited investment opportunities, fake websites or social media contacts promising high returns. People are advised not to trust unknown callers, share personal information without verification or invest through unverified platforms. In case of suspicious activity, citizens should contact the nearest police station or call the cybercrime helpline at 1930.
