Delhi man cheats US woman of US$ 4 lakh; her laptop hacked and a number flashes on screen
New Delhi, July 25
A Special Court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), New Delhi, has granted Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody for five days of cryptocurrency handler Lakshay Vij on July 23 who was arrested on July 22 in a money-laundering case, the ED said on Wednesday.
Taking to X, the ED posted, “ED, Delhi has arrested Lakshay Vij, Cryptocurrency handler on July 22, 2024 under PMLA, 2002. He was produced before the Hon’ble Special Court (PMLA), New Delhi on July 23, 2024, and the Hon’ble Court has granted ED custody for 5 days.”
Earlier, the Rouse Avenue Court on Tuesday remanded Lakshay Vij to five days of Enforcement Directorate custody in the money-laundering case.
The case is linked to cheating with a US woman worth US$ 4 lakh and laundering of the money through various bank accounts of bogus entities.
Special judge Gaurav Rao remanded Lakshay Vij to five days’ ED custody till July 28.
The ED had sought seven days of custody for Vij, who was arrested on Monday.
Advocate Nitesh Rana appeared for the accused. He opposed the custody demand and submitted that no ground of arrest was made out and that the same was illegal/unlawful.
On the other hand, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Simon Benjamin sought seven days’ custody of Vij.
The ED submitted that its case is based on a case by the CBI registered against Prafull Gupta and others for allegedly committing criminal conspiracy and cheating with a US citizen.
It is alleged that her laptop was hacked and a number flashed on the screen. When she contacted the number, a person impersonating a Microsoft employee responded and suggested that her USD 4 lakh investment in a company was not safe. He misguided her into transferring her money to a more secure account. He also gave the victim a different number to contact the company.
When she contacted the given number, the caller gained remote access to her computer and opened a cryptocurrency account in her name using her email and mobile number. He also advised her to transfer US$ 4 lakh to that account.
The victim transferred the amount to her bank account and thereafter, she transferred US$ 4 lakh to a cryptocurrency account. When she logged into her account after a few weeks, she found the account empty.
The defrauded amount was converted into cryptocurrency and further transferred to other accused persons in their Binance and FTX wallet addresses.
The victim, Lisa Roth, filed a complaint and the information was given to Indian authorities. The CBI registered an FIR against Prafful Gupta, Sarita Gupta and other accused persons for allegedly committing the offence of cheating.
