TechFlow News, January 25: According to India Today, India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested two individuals linked to the BitConnect cryptocurrency scam—a global fraud scheme involving kidnapping and extortion. The case allegedly involved thousands of bitcoins and tens of millions of Indian rupees in cash.
The arrested individuals, Nikunj Pravinbhai Bhatt and Sanjay Kotadia, are suspected of involvement in a kidnapping-for-ransom case in which the victim was coerced into surrendering 2,254 bitcoins, 11,000 litecoins, and approximately ₹1.45 billion in cash. Some of the extorted bitcoins were converted into ETH and USDT and transferred across multiple wallets. The ED has frozen and seized assets totaling approximately ₹1.9 billion, including cryptocurrency holdings, stocks, and cash. To date, the total value of seized or frozen assets in this case amounts to roughly ₹217 billion. The investigation remains ongoing. The ED stated that BitConnect marketed itself as a high-return investment platform, claiming its proprietary volatility-trading bot could generate monthly returns of up to 40%. The agency asserted these claims were entirely fabricated, designed solely to create a false impression of growth—including publishing fake daily returns of approximately 1% on its website.
