Pune: A manager (44) of a private company in Talegaon MIDC lost Rs 70.7 lakh after cybercrooks promised good returns on investing money in cryptocurrency between June 2024 and March 2025.The victim filed an online complaint and after preliminary investigations, a case was registered with the Kalewadi police on Wednesday.An officer from the Kalewadi police said in June 2024, the victim was added to a group of cyptocurrency investors on a mobile messaging application.“The crooks assured 100 cryptocurrencies in return if he invested through them. The victim accepted the offer and registered himself on a website to trade,” the officer said.Initially, the manager made meager investments and earned some profit. The crooks, however, started introducing different offers and schemes to the man. The victim kept investing money.The officer said till March 2025, the victim transferred Rs70.7 lakh to different bank accounts provided to him. In the app which had been managing the money, the victim saw that he earned cryptocurrency worth Rs 3.4 crore. “When he tried to withdraw his money, the crooks started asking more money under the pretext of taxation,” he said.The victim realised that he was being duped when the crooks deleted the website and stopped responding to his calls.
