The Cybercrime Division of Punjab Police apprehended four cryptocurrency traders from Malappuram district on August 12, in relation to an online fraud case. Among those arrested were Suresh (50) and Manoob from Kondotty police station, and Suroor E and Shahal Vailathur from Tirur police station.
After receiving a complaint about a “parcel scam” resulting in a loss of Rs 60 lakh, the Cybercrime Division initiated an investigation. An anonymous officer revealed that the money trail led them to the four individuals in Malappuram, as some of the money had flowed into their bank accounts.
Sabeer Iyyathiyl shared that his brother Suroor and his friend Shahal were taken into custody for trading USDT worth around Rs 8 lakh. Shahal received Rs 3.07 lakh on August 4 and Rs 5.05 lakh on August 7, sent by ‘Yupeng Wang’ via Kevinraj Consulting Private Limited. In exchange, Suroor transferred USDT worth Rs 8.12 lakh to Yupeng Wang’s Binance account.
The Punjab police arrested them on charges of receiving ill-gotten wealth. Sabeer contested this, asserting that his brother and friend had been engaged in lawful financial transactions. He questioned the difficulty for traders to discern if the money received is linked to a scam.
The Mohali police officer revealed that a case was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the IT Act. The approach of freezing bank accounts and arresting account holders was criticized by Abdul Jabbar V H, a cyber activist representing victims of bank account freezes in Kerala.
Notably, when Kochi Police apprehended four Karnataka Police officers for extortion attempts against crypto traders, they were not arrested, as they were served notice under Section 41A of the CrPC and the charges did not carry over seven years of punishment.
Abdul Jabbar, the general secretary of the All India Virtual Asset Traders’ Association, deemed the situation concerning. The association aimed to gather funds to approach the Supreme Court for guidelines on freezing bank accounts and arresting holders to safeguard against arbitrary actions by investigating officers.
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