India – Bitcoin Scam Kingpin Killed by Co-Conspirators
by Min H
Indian Police have learned about a massive $68 M Bitcoin scam, only after the leader of the scammer’s gang was beaten to death by his co-conspirators.
Police in the Indian state of Uttarakhand has learned about the Bitcoin scam, one of the biggest in India in recent history, only once the leader of the scammers, 35-year-old Abdul Shakoor, was brought to a local hospital with fatal injuries after being beaten to death by his co-conspirators.
Shakoor, was left in a local private hospital, his injuries rose the suspicion of the staff but when they attempted to question the men who brought him in, they fled. Shakoor died shortly thereafter of his injuries and the police were called to the scene. The investigation that followed shed some light on the unusual circumstances of his death and unveiled the massive scam his orchestrated.
According to the police investigation, Shakoor led a 6 member gang that ran a bitcoin Ponzi scheme robbing hopeful investors of over $68 M, before attempting to disappear on his partners in crime and keep the stolen money all to himself. His partners tracked him down, tortured him for hours in an attempt to retrieve his e-wallet password in order to take the money they have stolen together, before beating him to death and leaving him in the hospital where he passed away.
The head of the Police investigation, Captain Arun Joshi, has stated that “cryptocurrency worth hundreds of crores led to the murder of Abdul Shakoor. The accused, who are all members of Shakoor’s business team tortured him brutally at a private house in Prem Nagar … that led to his death”.
The police apprehended the remaining five members of his ‘business team’ and from their investigations managed to get a good idea of how the ordeal went down. Once the scammers fled from investors, they were on the run (successfully so, as the police only learned about the scam once Shakoor’s body was brought to a hospital), moving regularly from one town to another. At some point Shakoor assembled the gang and informed them that his personal Bitcoin account, where the stolen currency was kept, was hacked and all of his funds were stolen offering them to launch a new token in order to make up for the money lost – get their gains back and return some money to the investors who were hot on their backs. When his associates discovered he was deceiving them, they attempted to get his e-wallet password, beating Shakoor to death in the process.
