Indian authorities specializing in financial crime have placed a hold on assets totaling approximately ₹42.8 crore (about $4.8 million) linked to Chirag Tomar, an Indian citizen currently incarcerated in the United States.
Tomar’s conviction stems from his involvement in managing a deceptive online scheme that defrauded individuals into surrendering their cryptocurrency.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) publicly announced on August 5 that it had restricted access to 18 properties situated in Delhi, along with multiple bank accounts. These accounts are associated with Tomar, his family members, and his collaborators.
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In October of 2024, Tomar received a five-year prison sentence in a US federal court. His organization engineered fraudulent websites designed to mimic the Coinbase crypto exchange platform to illicitly obtain user login credentials.
After users input their details, they were presented with fabricated error messages and instructed to contact a support line. These numbers connected them to fraudulent individuals impersonating Coinbase support personnel.
Subsequently, victims were deceived into divulging security codes or granting remote access to their devices, enabling the scammers to pilfer funds from their cryptocurrency wallets.
Authorities have stated that the scheme operated for over two years. The perpetrators employed tactics to ensure their fake websites appeared higher in search results than the authentic Coinbase website.
Investigations also revealed that close to ₹600 crore (approximately $72 million) worth of digital assets were transferred across various trading platforms before being converted into Indian rupees.
In related news, two individuals from Southern California face charges for illegally exporting artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, violating US export regulations. You can explore the details of this case here.