No platform is fool proof, says Telegram on Rs 712 crore investment fraud

Nine individuals were arrested in connection with the investment fraud. They were apprehended from Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Hyderabad.

Remember how a few months back users were being bombarded by job messages on instant messaging apps? While many users were able to discern that these messages were scams, a few fell for them.

Last week, the Hyderabad Police unearthed a Rs 712 crore investment scam, where the victims were targeted via Telegram with the offer of a part-time job.

In his complaint to the Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police, one victim said that he was offered a part-time job of "Rate and Review" over Telegram. Victims were initially enticed with simple tasks – they were asked to invest small amounts, rate a few tasks and earn profits on those ratings. They were later lured into larger investments with false promises of substantial returns and then trapped.

Instant messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram and others are increasingly being used by fraudsters to perpetrate scams. The Indian government too has taken a stern view of these developments and had sent a notice to such apps earlier.

Modus Operandi

According to the Hyderabad Police, the victims were asked to give 5-star ratings after investing smaller amounts. For instance, initially, for every Rs 1,000 the victim invested, he earned a profit of Rs 866.

The amount invested was displayed in an online-wallet type window with options like invest, withdraw money, perform tasks and so on.

Subsequently, the victim was given more tasks to perform, each time investing more money. So, when the victim invested Rs 25,000, he was told that he had "earned a profit" of Rs 20,000, but was not allowed to withdraw the money.

In this way, the victims were eventually trapped into larger investments with false promises of substantial returns. Eventually, the police found that the victim had lost Rs 28 lakhs.

This money was transferred to 6 bank accounts in the name of one Radhika Marketing. From there, the money was transferred to various other bank accounts. Finally, it was transferred to Dubai where it was used to purchase cryptocurrency.

Chinese and crypto angle

The mastermind behind the scheme, who coordinated with Indian associates to open shell companies and bank accounts where two Chinese nationals. They were the ones who lured victims by sending messages over Telegram, police said.

To conceal the proceeds of the crime, after sifting the money through multiple bank accounts, the fraudsters converted the money from INR to USDT (a form of cryptocurrency).

The Indian wing of the defrauding campaign used a Tron coin wallet to receive their commission in either USDT or TRON coin. According to the police, that wallet was also associated with the Hezbollah wallet, which had been earlier sanctioned in different countries for alleged involvement in terror financing.

In total, police found that transactions of over Rs 128 crore took place over 65 bank accounts. Cops also found that Rs 584 crore had already separately been converted to USDT coin, taking the total volume to Rs 712 crore.

What Telegram said

In a statement to Moneycontrol, a Telegram spokesperson said, "Telegram uses sophisticated automated systems to prevent spam that often precedes such scams. While thousands of attempts are stopped each day before they can begin, and these systems are always improving, no platform can completely prevent such scams."

The messaging platform also said that it has moderators who monitor public parts of the platform and accept user reports in order to remove content that breaches its terms of service.

"Any user or law enforcement agency can report a potential scam using the in-app reporting tools or by emailing abuse@Telegram.org. It is important that users are always cautious online, especially with financial matters," the spokesperson added.