Hyderabad Crypto Job Fraud: Three Arrested
- Malicious Trontag Website Used to Steal USDT
- Cyber Crime Police Seize Mobiles and Laptops
Hyderabad, Feb. 16: The Cyber Crime Police in Hyderabad have arrested three persons in connection with a major crypto job fraud involving theft of $21,04,089 USDT.
The accused allegedly used a malicious website, Trontag.org, which impersonated a KYC verification platform and enabled a smart contract to transfer funds from the victim’s wallet without his knowledge.
According to police, the 44 year old victim, a resident of Kalyan Nagar, Hyderabad, lodged a complaint stating that unknown persons approached him to buy USDT.
They informed him that his Tron wallet address needed KYC verification through the website Trontag.org. Believing the claim, he opened the link and entered his details.
Soon after, $21,04,089 USDT was transferred from his Tron wallet to the accused persons’ wallet without his consent.
Based on the complaint, police registered a case in Crime No 129/2026 under Sections 66 C and 66 D of the IT Act 2000 2008 and Sections 111(2)(b), 318(4), 319(2), 336(3), 338 and 340(2) of the BNS. The investigation revealed that the accused were operating in an organised manner and cheating victims across India.
During the probe, police identified and arrested Sushim Shripati Gaikwad from Pune, Maharashtra, and Srikanth from Hyderabad, who allegedly approached the victim to purchase USDT.
They also arrested Lucky Choudhary from Jaipur, Rajasthan, who designed the malicious website and impersonated it as a KYC verification portal.
Police said the fraudsters directed victims to the fake website and asked them to connect their crypto wallets. By approving a so-called verification, a malicious smart contract was enabled.
Consequently, funds were transferred automatically to the accused wallets.
Officers seized four mobile phones and two laptops during the operation. The arrests were made under the supervision of DCP V Aravind Babu and ACP R G Siva Maruthi.
Inspector S Naresh and his team carried out the operation. Further investigation is underway to trace other absconding accused.
Police advised the public not to connect crypto wallets to unknown websites and to verify URLs carefully.
Victims of cybercrime can dial 1930 or visit cybercrime.gov.in for assistance.
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