UP’s Cyber Crime wing has unearthed pan-India frauds worth Rs 4,200 cr with links to China, a senior police official said in a PTI report published by TOI. Why it matters: In April this year, the UP Police Cyber Cell claimed to have busted an “online fraud nexus” worth Rs 3000 cr with links to China. They claimed this involved scamming people through instant lending apps and duping people by promising them part-time jobs. “But now their connection has also been established in frauds on the pretext of cryptocurrency trading through bogus and fake websites,” taking the total “estimated value” of frauds to Rs 4,200 cr, Triveni Singh, UP Cyber Crime Superintendent of Police told PTI. Modus Operandi of crypto scammers Scammers create “fake websites and apps for crypto trading and lure investors into investing money in return for huge profits”, Singh said. For instance, in this case – scammers created a platform where users could see their profits rising while trading in crypto, but in reality, only the numbers on the screen were increasing, explained Singh, indicating that there was no increase in the actual bank balance or online wallet balance. Once the funds were transferred to a fake platform "the investors never get any money back," said Singh. When asked how this money reaches the fraudsters running the funds from outside the country, Singh said that in the beginning, the funds are transferred to the platform’s Indian bank accounts and digital wallets. “This money is then transferred to Zebpay…
