Ahmedabad businessman loses ₹31 lakh in fake cryptocurrency investment scam

Ahmedabad, November 8 — A 54-year-old businessman from the city has reportedly lost ₹31 lakh in a cryptocurrency investment scam run through a fake trading platform impersonating the reputed exchange CoinEx.

According to Cyber Crime Ahmedabad, the victim, Shailesh Patel, a building materials supplier from Sola, lodged a complaint stating that the fraud occurred between April 3 and May 8, 2025.

Patel told police that a woman identifying herself as Aradhya Thakur befriended him on Facebook and later contacted him via WhatsApp, posing as an investment advisor. She persuaded him to invest in a supposed crypto trading platform called “CoinEx VIPT”, claiming investors could earn 10% profit on dollar purchases converted into the cryptocurrency USDT.

Trusting her, Patel registered on the website she shared — coinexvipt.com — and began transferring funds in instalments to multiple bank accounts provided by the so-called customer care team. Over several weeks, he deposited a total of ₹31 lakh.

To build credibility, the woman initially credited ₹9,900 to Patel’s account, calling it his “profit.” However, when he later tried to withdraw his investment, the website became unresponsive and both the woman and the customer care number stopped answering.

Patel later found a warning on the official CoinEx website stating that “CoinEx VIPT” was a fraudulent domain impersonating the legitimate exchange. Realising he had been duped, he called the national cybercrime helpline 1930 and subsequently filed a detailed complaint with police, attaching chat transcripts and transaction records.

The Cyber Crime Police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act for cheating, criminal breach of trust, and criminal conspiracy.

Police have urged citizens to verify investment platforms through official websites and avoid transferring money based on unsolicited online offers.