Tough luck will turn tougher if cons put your money in crypto | Kolkata News
Kolkata: Being duped online, whether by threat or deceit, is unfortunate. However, the situation becomes more challenging if cyber criminals convert your money into cryptocurrency. Not only do you then lose your money but you also have to pay a 30% tax and rely on dollar rates to determine how much you can get back. Crypto recoveries have been leaving police puzzled and the victims distressed.
A police officer said once currency is converted into cryptocurrency, it is laundered through multiple channels, making it extremely difficult to track. What adds to the challenge are security agencies targeting the same channels and wallets. “When one sells crypto, it is transferred from one virtual crypto wallet to another. Legal crypto trading attracts a 30% tax. However, in illegal trading, assets can only be seized when the wallets used by the accused are genuine — even if the operation is illegal. Genuine wallets are traceable quickly. In cases where this trading is done through non-trading wallets, as seen in digital arrest frauds, reversing money becomes a Herculean task. But then, even after currency is converted into cryptocurrency, there is always an end-user. Our job is to identify the individuals behind these transactions using technology. While it is challenging, we have traced and resolved some cases,” said an officer from the Lalbazar cyber cell.
However, by the time the seizures are made, 30% of the total transaction value already gets deducted. And the conversion into rupees has to be based on the dollar trading rates. This recovery, the officer said, can take months. “It is in this regard that we have tied up with specific organisations working on these cases — like ED and Telangana Police — to help us in the recovery process. The victim needs to be patient, and s/he should know chances of recovery become lower if the case is reported late,” the officer said.
Kolkata Police recently made one of the biggest recoveries concerning defrauded money parked in multiple cryptocurrency accounts — Rs 2.1 crore cheated from victims of digital arrest fraud in the last week of Jan. Of this, cryptocurrency equivalent to Rs 1.3 crore were seized from four crypto accounts being run through a cryptocurrency exchange based in the Cayman Islands. In Feb, another case saw the detective department seize Rs 65 lakh from a crypto account.
“In both cases, we contacted that crypto exchange outside the country and sent them mails to block the accused’s wallets. A subsequent court order was also sent,” said Joint CP (crime & traffic) Rupesh Kumar.