ED arrests Indian youth for duping US woman of Rs 3.3 crores

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate has arrested a youth from Delhi for duping a US woman of Rs 3.3 crore. The arrested youth has been identified as Lakshay Vij, a native of Dilshad Garden area in Delhi. According to reports, Lakshay was arrested by the ED under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

According to reports, the fraud took place in July 2023. Lakshay began the fraud by hacking Roth's laptop and flashing a number on her screen. When the woman called this number, Lakshay answered the call by introducing himself as an agent from Microsoft. He then asked her to transfer her investment of $4,00,000 (approximately Rs 3.3 crore) from her bank account to a cryptocurrency wallet. When the woman later checked the cryptocurrency wallet, she found that her funds were gone. Following this, she filed a complaint with the local authorities who sent the details of the case to India.

It was the CBI that first investigated the case. The officials found that Roth's money was transferred to the wallets of a man named Praphul Gupta and his mother Saritha Gupta. It was also found that a person named Karan Chug was receiving this money from Gupta and depositing it in different wallets.

Following this, the ED registered a case under PMLA and conducted an investigation. During the investigation, it was found that Lakshay was the mastermind of this fraud. Lakshay, who was produced in court on July 23, was sent to ED custody for five days.