Indian Police Officers Arrested $300 Million Crypto Scam

India’s special investigation team (SIT) has arrested eight people, including four law enforcement officers, in connection with a major cryptocurrency fraud scheme that dates back to 2018.

This brings the total number of arrests to 18 as authorities continue to investigate a $300 million crypto scam that affected around 5,000 government employees and 1,000 police staff members.

Mukesh Agnihotri, the Deputy Chief Minister of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, has warned the public to expect more arrests in connection with the illegal operation, which scammed millions of victims over several years.

According to reports, between 2021 and 2023, 56 complaints were made to the local police by multiple victims regarding a crypto scam that focused on Korvio Coin, a crypto token launched locally.

The prime suspect believed to have orchestrated the scheme is Subhash Sharma, who is currently on the run. Local police found that over 300 suspects had profited from the scam, with each individual making between $120,000 and $240,000.

Sharma and his associates were able to convince victims to invest in Korvio coins by involving female promoters and police personnel. As a result, many people fell prey to the scam and suffered significant financial losses.

Crypto scams are unfortunately all too common, despite ongoing efforts to establish cryptocurrency as a legitimate and trustworthy digital financial system.

The Swiss Institute of Technology (SIT) recently revealed that a scam discovered in September of 2023 may have been in operation for up to five years. In October of the same year, victims of crypto scams lost a total of $32 million.

In Calgary, Canadians lost $22.5 million to scammers, while Thai authorities were able to freeze $277 million in illicit proceeds thanks to the help of Binance, a major crypto exchange.

However, the largest crypto scams to date are still OneCoin’s $25 billion operation, the $4 billion BitConnect scam, and the Bitclub Network scheme, which caused victims to lose over $700 million.