A man from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh has been arrested by city cybercrime police for cheating a woman to the tune of Rs 5.98 lakh in the guise of an online parcel scam.
Officials said that the accused, Harsh Kumar, 24, was found purchasing crypto currency on behalf of Chinese nationals on their directions with the siphoned amount.
The accused was arrested following a complaint from a woman from Tarnaka, who stated that she received a call about a parcel on her name with the Andheri East Mumbai branch which has “illegal” contents in it.
“She was threatened with legal consequences for having illegal items being circulated with her name and was asked to pay money to clear her name from the case. The fraudster made her transfer a total of Rs 5,98,725,” said the officials.
It was revealed during the probe that Harsh Kumar facilitated a Binance account, which allows exchange of cryptocurrencies, for Chinese fraudsters, and also purchased crypto currency on their behalf with the cheated amount.
“Further probe is on to track the money and the connections between the accused and Chinese nationals,” added the police.