Man arrested in Rs 384 cr crypto fraud case

Bengaluru: A 28-year-old man has been arrested in connection with an alleged cyber fraud at a city-based cryptocurrency trading platform that resulted in a loss of around Rs 384 crore, police said on Wednesday.

According to police, Hardeep Singh, vice-president (public policy and government affairs) at Neblio Technologies Private Limited, lodged a complaint stating that an unknown individual hacked into the company’s crypto wallet on July 19 and transferred cryptocurrency worth USD 44 million (approximately Rs 384 crore) to an unknown wallet.

The assets were then moved across six other unidentified wallets, police added. The arrested person, identified as Rahul Agarwal, an employee of the company, has been taken into custody for further interrogation, a senior police officer said. In the FIR, Singh stated that the company’s internal investigation revealed Agarwal’s laptop had been compromised.

During questioning, Agarwal reportedly admitted to holding a part-time job for the past year, from which he had earned approximately Rs 15 lakh. He also confessed to using the company-issued laptop for the part-time job, which Singh alleged was a violation of company policy. “It is suspected that he (Agarwal) may have colluded with the unknown accused and carried out the hacking,” Singh alleged in the complaint.

When contacted, a company official declined to comment, stating that the matter is under investigation. Based on the complaint, a case was registered on July 22 at the Whitefield CEN police station under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including charges of theft, criminal breach of trust, and cheating by personation.