Assam police bust Rs 200 crore crypto scam, arrest 2 linked to Dubai-based fraudster

A major cryptocurrency scam, estimated to have defrauded investors of over Rs 200 crore, has been dismantled by Assam Police, resulting in the arrest of two individuals in South Salmara Mankachar district. The operation, conducted in the early hours of March 4, was led by Sub-Inspector Jayanta Rajkhowa of South Salmara Police Station, under the supervision of the ASP Headquarters, following credible intelligence regarding the fraudulent activities of "Crypto TLC 2.0."

The arrested individuals, Akheruzzaman Ahmed (26) and Nur Alom Ahmed (27), both residents of Tumni Simlakandi village, were apprehended for operating an illegal multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme disguised as AI-powered forex trading through a platform named "Bot-Bro." This scheme lured investors with promises of exorbitant monthly returns, reaching 5-6%, significantly exceeding standard market rates.

Investigations revealed a connection between the arrested suspects and Lavish Chaudhury, a Dubai-based businessman previously implicated in a ₹500 crore investment fraud in Himachal Pradesh. Chaudhury, who owns the cricket team UP Nawabs, is alleged to have hosted a meeting at Greenwood Resort in Guwahati, attended by the arrested individuals and numerous downline members. A meeting pass recovered from the suspects corroborated this connection.

During the operation, police seized a significant amount of digital and financial evidence, including five mobile phones, three laptops, a pen drive, an ATM swipe machine, 11 ATM cards, five bank passbooks, and seven cheque books.

Preliminary inquiries indicate that the suspects had been running the scam for an extended period, recruiting thousands of investors across multiple districts in Assam. They operated under the direction of Abdul Kalam of Chaygaon, who reportedly built a downline of over 1 lakh members, each investing a minimum of ₹20,000.

The investigation further revealed that the fraudulent scheme operated through large-scale meetings, where potential investors were coerced into purchasing fake crypto tokens with promises of inflated returns. The scam’s website, hosted on Cloudflare Inc. servers with IPs traced to San Francisco and Frankfurt, was found to be operating a non existant cryptocurrency, as verified by CoinMarketCap. Funds were then siphoned off to foreign accounts.

An FIR has been registered, and authorities are actively pursuing Lavish Chaudhury and other key operatives involved in the scam. The police investigation aims to uncover the full extent of the fraudulent network and recover the defrauded funds.