CBI action: Case of fraud registered, $9.3 lakh recovered from crypto wallet

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday said it has registered a case against Ramavat Shaishav alias James Carlson, conducted searches and recovered US $ 9.3 lakh from his crypto wallet. A CBI spokesperson here said that searches were conducted at the premises of Shashav in Ahmedabad which led to the recovery and seizure of crypto wallets and incriminating material worth US$ 9.3 lakh worth crypto currencies – Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, USDT etc. The officer said that during the search, the involvement of two other persons resident of Ahmedabad also came to light. Therefore, searches were also conducted at the premises of the said persons resulting in recovery of mobile phones, laptops containing objectionable material etc. The agency said it was alleged that the said fraudster contacted a US citizen over phone under the pseudonym of “James Carlson”, posing as the fraud department of a multi-national company and falsely informing the victim That someone is trying to order a computer using the victim’s account. It was also alleged that the accused also misled the victim that people in four different provinces had used the victim’s social security number to open accounts of the said MNC, the officer said. The CBI also alleged that Shaishav induced the victim to withdraw cash from his bank accounts and deposit it in Bitcoin in the Rockitcoin ATM wallet and shared a QR code and falsely informed him that it was opened by the US Treasury for the victim. Was eating. The agency said, “The accused also emailed a fake letter dated 20.09.2022 purportedly issued by the Federal Trade Commission, US, to gain the trust of the victim. The victim withdrew US$1,30,000 from his bank accounts on different dates during the period from August 30 to September 9 last year and deposited the same on a Bitcoin address given by the accused. “Subsequently, it was fraudulently misused by the accused, causing a loss of $1,30,000 to the victim,” the officer said. These inputs were received from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.”