Hyderabad: A 32-year-old research scientist working in artificial intelligence (AI) at a multinational software company filed a complaint with the Hyderabad Cybercrime Police Station on Thursday alleging that he was duped of Rs 85.05 lakh in a cryptocurrency investment scam through a matrimonial website.The victim from Nalakunta, who recently completed a PhD in artificial intelligence, told police that he started chatting with a woman pretending to be Monica Reddy on the website ReddyMatrimony.com on June 17, 2025. Claiming to be a tax professional based in Scotland who traded cryptocurrencies with her uncle, the scammer convinced the victim to try a platform called Global TRX, promising returns of 10-20%.Over the next three months, the scientist transferred his savings in 14 transactions from his bank account, first purchasing Tether (USDT) on Binance and then transferring the funds directly to seven trading accounts provided through WhatsApp. Investigators said 3,000 went to a bank account in the name of Shankar Sahu, while 13,000 was directed to an entity called RR Physiotherapy. The remaining amount was converted into cryptocurrencies and sent to wallets in the UK and Malaysia.The complainant became aware of the scam on October 9 when his withdrawal request was not approved on the fake cryptocurrency investment app “Global TRX”, which is not listed on Google Play or the App Store. “I downloaded the app from the link that Monica shared,” the victim said.Based on his complaint, the Cyber Crime Police registered a case under Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act and Sections 111(2)(b) (organized crime), 318(4) (cheating), 319(2) (cheating by impersonation), 336(3) (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 338 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), 340(2) (use of original document forged document Or electronic record) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) on Friday.The police are analyzing and have started tracking the suspect’s WhatsApp numbers and bank account details to solve the case. MSID:: 125805685 413 |
