{"id":21189,"date":"2025-02-16T14:04:29","date_gmt":"2025-02-16T12:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/india-seizes-190-million-in-cryptocurrency-linked-to-bitconnect-fraud\/"},"modified":"2025-02-16T14:04:29","modified_gmt":"2025-02-16T12:04:29","slug":"india-seizes-190-million-in-cryptocurrency-linked-to-bitconnect-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/india-seizes-190-million-in-cryptocurrency-linked-to-bitconnect-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"India Seizes $190 Million in Cryptocurrency Linked to BitConnect Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Indian authorities have seized cryptocurrency worth approximately $190 million in connection with the fraudulent BitConnect scheme, according to local publication <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/cities\/ahmedabad\/ahmedabad-ed-seizes-cryptocurrency-worth-rs1646-crore-in-bitconnect-investment-fraud-9838068\/\">Indian Express<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Raids conducted on February 11 and 15 also resulted in the confiscation of about $15,500 in rupees, a car, and electronics.<\/p>\n<p>Law enforcement officials analyzed a &#8220;complex network of transactions&#8221; involving numerous crypto wallets. Some operations were conducted on the darknet.<\/p>\n<p>During the investigation, using ground intelligence data, specialists were able to locate premises where devices with access to digital assets were stored.<\/p>\n<p>BitConnect operated from 2016 to 2018, offering a 40% monthly or 1% daily return allegedly through a trading bot&#8217;s deals.<\/p>\n<p>In January 2018, investors filed a class-action lawsuit against the firm, accusing it of running a Ponzi scheme. Plaintiffs claimed that BitConnect did not engage in trading and that bonuses were paid from new investors&#8217; funds.<\/p>\n<p>The collapse of the platform resulted in $2.4 billion in damages, affecting approximately 4,000 victims from 95 countries.<\/p>\n<p>In August 2024, Indian law enforcement <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/kidnapping-linked-to-bitconnect-scandal-in-india\">arrested<\/a> a local resident on suspicion of kidnapping two BitConnect employees and extorting $125 million in cryptocurrencies. The detainee claimed he was attempting to recover his investment.<\/p>\n<p>In January 2025, in England, <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/british-cryptocurrency-extortion-gang-sentenced-to-76-years-in-prison\">seven gang members were convicted<\/a> for kidnapping a crypto investor for extortion purposes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Indian authorities have seized cryptocurrency worth approximately $190 million in connection with the fraudulent BitConnect scheme, according to local publication Indian Express. Raids conducted on February 11 and 15 also resulted in the confiscation of about $15,500 in rupees, a car, and electronics. Law enforcement officials analyzed a &#8220;complex network of transactions&#8221; involving numerous crypto [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"","news_style_id":"","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[708,1154,278,1163],"class_list":["post-21189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-bitconnect","tag-crimes","tag-india","tag-ponzi-schemes"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"17","promo_type":"","layout_type":"","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}