NEW DELHI, June 19 -- Three men have been arrested for duping victims in southwest Delhi by offering money to post positive reviews of hotels and restaurants and laundering Rs 15.8 lakh to Chinese handlers through cryptocurrency channels, an official said on Thursday.
The accused, identified as Mahender Singh Rajawat (25), Ariph Khan (25) and Laxmi Narayan Vaishy (23), were in direct contact with a Chinese national operating via an encrypted messaging app, he said.
The trio allegedly lured victims with small upfront payments for online review tasks, only to defraud them later under false pretexts such as welfare tasks, account unfreezing and credit score improvement, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Amit Goel said. The gang routed the cheated money through multiple bank accounts, converted it into USDT (Tether) cryptocurrency and transferred it to China, he added.
"The case came to light following a complaint by a man identified as K Kant, who was duped after responding to online offers promising money for posting positive reviews of hotels and restaurants. Initially paid small sums to gain his trust, the victim was later manipulated into transferring over Rs 15.8 lakh on various pretexts," the DCP said.
Police raided multiple locations in Rajasthan, arresting three men for laundering money to China via cryptocurrency. Six smartphones with chats, transactions, and foreign contacts were recovered; one suspect remains absconding.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.