Notably, the cryptocurrency industry expanded its boundaries in India in recent years. But unfortunately, cybercriminals and crypto fraudsters also ramped up their efforts to loot investors’ hard-earned money in this sector. As a result, it put the law-enforcement forces on their toes and led government authorities to stricter regulations.

Similarly, the Indian police force in the country’s second most-populous state, Maharashtra, has pinched a fraudster in Thane city, who had allegedly taken the money of 1,441 investors and vanished in thin air, per the country’s local media outlet.

Related Reading: Increasing Crypto Crimes Forced Australia To Set Up Dedicated Police Unit

The report estimates that the crypto scammer may have significantly looted the money, an excessive 2.5 billion rupees ($31.2 million). Notably, only 24 investors have appeared to file their cases so far. They collectively lost $55,085 in the scam.

In order to make investors dump their money, the scammer ran two fake programs on the platform set named ‘SMP’ and ‘Magic 3x’.

The specialized workforce of the Thane police department, the Economic Offence Wing (EOW), which investigates economic offenses, took the criminal into custody.

Besides the blockchain development and locals’ interest in crypto in India, the government has remained aggressive with digital assets since the beginning. For example, the Indian gov. has implied a 30% tax on crypto profits. 

India Plans To Regulate Crypto Via Strict Regulations

India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently started a probe against exchanges and seized the assets of a few trading platforms in the state. The authority accused exchanges of facilitating money laundering by circulating digital currency funds.

After the ED froze the assets of two crypto exchanges in August, including Wazir X and Vauld, the county’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, appeared to caution investors and the public about the crypto.

Speaking on the seize, Valud explained that the platform has fully cooperated with the authority and provided all types of data officials needed. And the agency confiscated the firm’s assets only due to a lousy actor using the platform and then deactivated itself from the exchange.

The company added;

“We respectfully disagree with the freezing order. We follow strict KYC requirements in every country, including India. We seek legal advice on our best course of action to protect the interests of the company, its customers, and all the stakeholders.”

The finance minister also highlighted that considering the growing risks involved with virtual assets, government authorities are in the process of creating new regulation rules to tackle crypto crimes.

Related Reading: Poolin Mining Pool Freezes BTC and ETH Withdrawals, Cites Liquidity Issues

As U.S. Fed’s hawkish approach to digital assets has been fluctuating the prices of cryptos, India’s new policy may impact the market likely. 

India, the second most populous country on the earth, has 115 million crypto investors, representing a 15% of the population who have purchased or sold the digital currency in the previous six months, per the KuCoin report.