Hyderabad: A man was arrested on Thursday, February 20 for cryptocurrency fraud in Hyderabad in the name of Morgan Stanley, an investment banking company.
The accused has been identified as 22-year-old Pathi Manikanta from YSR Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh. Manikanta was in touch with crypto traders, agents and Chinese nationals. In 2024, the cybercrime unit of the Cyberabad police booked a case against the accused based on a complaint by a software engineer.
The complainant stated that he was duped of of 55,066 USDT (Known as tether, it is a cryptocurrency that’s designed to maintain the same value as the US dollar), equivalent to Rs. 52.31 lakh on the pretext of an investment scheme impersonating Morgan Stanley.
According to the police, Manikanta contacted the victim through WhatsApp, Telegram using 44 UK-based numbers promising a 20 percent daily return on investment for a crypto investment scheme. Impersonating Morgan Stanley, they gained the complainant’s confidence and encouraged him to invest in a fraud crypto scheme for around a month.
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The accused were using sophisticated layering techniques to launder crime proceeds across multiple crypto platforms including Binance, Kucoin, Trust Wallet etc, the police said. Since the structure of blockchain and the transnational nature of crime, a team of tech-savvy police personnel and crypto experts was formed. Technical investigation and interrogation of the accused revealed connections to China, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.
The accused was in constant touch with other Chinese criminal groups over Telegram for the purchase and supply of mule bank accounts on a commission basis. Udhyam registration certificates were also recovered from phones which are suspected to be used for opening mule accounts in banks
Following the court’s order, Binance has seized the stolen assets. To expedite the recovery of funds to the complainant’s account assistance from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) cryptocurrency investigation assistance team and FIU-Ind will be taken if required.
Manikanta was arrested for cheating under section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and 66(D) of the IT Act.
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