A cryptocurrency scam in India turned tragic leading to the death of one of the scammers. The deceased, Abdul Shakoor, was alleged to be the mastermind behind the scam, but when he tried to defraud his team members, the situation escalated and led to his torture and consequent death.
Shakoor and his team had collected Rs 450 crore ($62.5 million) from local residents in the state of Kerala in India to invest in crypto, a report by the Times of India revealed. However, things went south when Shakoor allegedly suffered losses and was unable to compensate his investors. This led him and his team to run off and seek solace from the aggrieved investors.
Things took the wrong turn when Shakoor told his associates that his personal account had been hacked and that he had lost all the crypto they owned. His big plan was to launch his own cryptocurrency and raise money to pay back the initial investors.
Shakoor’s team wasn’t convinced he was telling the truth. They believed that he still held the crypto and they decided to persuade him to reveal his password. When the persuasion failed to bear fruit, they turned to torture. Shakoor still wouldn’t reveal the password and so his accomplices continued to torture him until he passed out.
In realization that they weren’t going to have their way and that his life was in danger, Shakoor’s accomplices quickly rushed him to a hospital in a bid to save his life. A police officer in charge of the investigation explained:
“With their hopes of getting the account password fading away, Shakoor’s associates made a last ditch effort to revive him by taking him to two hospitals. They first took him to a hospital near Ballupur Chowk where doctors declared him dead. They then rushed him to a super-specialty hospital on the Dehradun-Mussoorie road, where the doctor’s response was the same.”
After realizing he was dead, the five accomplices abandoned their car and ran off. They were arrested two days later and charged with murder.
The tragic scam is just one of the many crypto-related crimes that have taken place in India. Two months ago, two crypto traders were kidnapped and held for ransom. The kidnappers demanded 80 SegWitCoin BTC ($840,000 at the time) in order to release the hostages. Fortunately, the police thwarted the plan before the ransom was paid or the hostages injured.
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