Hyderabad: A crypto and mule account trader, Manikanta (22), was arrested by the Cyberabad cybercrime cops on Thursday from his hometown in YSR Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh. The accused was in touch with Chinese nationals, as well as crypto traders and agents. His associates from Haryana are absconding, a cybercrime official said.
A technical investigation of the accused revealed his connections to China, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom. He was in constant touch with other Chinese criminal groups over Telegram for the purchase and supply of mule bank accounts on a commission basis.
UDHYAM registration certificates were also recovered from his phone, which are suspected to be used for opening mule accounts in banks, said an official.
While cryptocurrency platform Binance successfully seized the stolen assets to expedite the recovery of funds to the victim’s account, they are taking assistance from the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), the MHA’s cryptocurrency investigation assistance team, and the Financial Intelligence Unit, added the official.
Police started the probe in 2024 after a software engineer was duped of USDT 55,066, equivalent to 52,31,270, in a crypto investment fraud abusing the name of Morgan Stanley. The criminal gangs were using a sophisticated layering technique to launder crime proceeds across multiple crypto platforms, including Binance, Kucoin, Trust Wallet, etc., said the official.
