An Indian serving a 60-month prison sentence in the United States for a $20 million cryptocurrency scam, his family, and related organisations in Delhi have had assets worth ₹42.8 crore seized by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the agency announced on Tuesday.
After learning that Chirag Tomar had been detained in the United States for stealing more than $20 million via spoof or phoney websites that imitated the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, the agency said it opened an inquiry. It further stated that search engine optimisation was used to spoof the reliable websites so that the spoof would show up at the top of the results when they were searched.
With the exception of the contact information, the spoof website looked just like the legitimate one. The spoof website would display incorrect information when users entered their login credentials. In order to reach the designated call centre run by Chirag Tomar, users would instead call the number provided on the counterfeit website, the ED said in a statement.
As soon as the scammers were able to access the victim’s accounts, they promptly moved the victim’s cryptocurrency holdings to wallets they controlled. A variety of peer-to-peer cryptocurrency marketplaces would then sell the pilfered cryptocurrency and exchange it for Indian rupees, or INR.
Chirag Tomar and his family members then received the funds in their bank accounts, where they were utilised to purchase real estate. In October of last year, Tomar was convicted by a US district judge in Charlotte, North Carolina, for stealing more than $20 million from hundreds of victims.
In October 2024, the US lawyer claimed that Tomar spent the money on his extravagant lifestyle, buying pricey watches, luxurious cars like Lamborghinis and Porsches, and vacations to places like Dubai and Thailand. In December 2023, Tomar was taken into custody at the Atlanta airport. In May 2024, he entered a guilty plea. An estimated ₹600 crore worth of cryptocurrency was converted at Indian exchanges, according to the ED.
The money was then given to the recipients by Tomar. In the case, the ED conducted searches in Delhi and Mumbai on February 20.