The Income Tax Department’s Foreign Investigation Unit in Hyderabad has uncovered a major cryptocurrency fraud involving stolen identities of unsuspecting citizens. Acting on a Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) report that flagged 20 suspicious cases, officials visited villages across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to verify the trades.

In nine cases confirmed so far, crypto transactions totaling Rs 170 crore were traced—none of which were carried out by the people whose names were used.

In one striking instance, investigators reached Mirdodi village in Telangana’s Siddipet district expecting to meet an investor who had allegedly purchased cryptocurrency worth Rs 9.5 crore via Binance. Instead, they found S Narasimha, a paddy farmer completely unaware of any such transaction. “I have no

See Full Page