Crypto exchanges defrauded of more than Rs 600 crore in 21 months: See the full list
Cryptocurrency is hardly out of the headlines, either for sharp appreciation, or for Donald Trump's focus, or for sharp correction. But this was quite shocking -- that cybercriminals swindled 2,872 people of Rs 624 crore through 27 Indian crypto exchanges. And this could be just the beginning.
Kolkata: Cryptocurrency is hardly out of the headlines, either for sharp appreciation, or for Donald Trump's focus, or for sharp correction. But this was quite shocking -- that cybercriminals swindled 2,872 people of Rs 624 crore through 27 Indian crypto exchanges. And this could be just the proverbial tip of the iceberg. The process happened over 21 months. The investigation is far from over.
Significantly, the amount of Rs 624 crore is not all. Over and above this sum, Rs 26 crore was sent through foreign crypto platforms. The government earlier sounded caution that crypto proceeds could be used for subversive activities since it represented money without borders. But this is a new danger altogether. Cybercrime is spreading its tentacles in the country and data collected by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has produced a clear picture of how numerous crypto exchanges in India and abroad have become the prey for cybercriminals to convert funds into digital assets and transfer it through multiple wallets.
News reports have brought to the surface this disturbing data. The immediate bottomline is, all investors who might be putting their money in crypto assets should become cautious. The data has been sourced from the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal. It has named as many as 27 crypto exchanges to transfer fraudulent funds. The time in which these frauds were committed is between January 2024 and September 2025. As many as 2,872 people on Indian crypto platforms fell victim to these scamsters. The number goes up by 769 individuals who were preyed upon through foreign crypto platforms. However, the amount was much smaller -- Rs 25 crore.
Modus operandi
According to reports, the victims were lured through fake trading and investment apps. Then their investments were converted into cryptocurrency. The next stage consisted in routing it through multiple wallets --- a step that was done to camouflage the source of funds. Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre submitted the list of these 27 exchanges to Financial Intelligence Unit and enforcement agencies.
Indian Crypto Exchanges used for the purpose were CoinDCX, WazirX, Giottus, Zebpay, Mudrex, CoinSwitch, Carret, Inocyx, Eclipton, Onramp, CoinDhan, Pi42, SunCrypto, Flitpay, KoinBX, Transak, Unocoin, AlpYne, ArthBit, CryptoShatabdi, Bytex, Onmeta, Stable Pay, Buyucoin, BitBNS, Fantzar. The foreign crypto exchanges were Onlychain Vilnius, Ezipay Ebene (Mauritius), Mercuryo (Payment Gateway) (UK), Crypto.com (Singapore), Binance (Cayman Islands), Neteller.com (Digi Wallet) (UK), Bitget (Seychelles–Poland), Moonpay (Payment Gateway) (US), Skrill.com (Payment Gateway) (UK), OnlyFans London (UK), Banxa (Australia) and Bybit BVI (Dubai).
A few platforms have said that they just facilitate lawful trade and are not directly involved in any crime. They said that they comply with KYC norms, AML, and security protocols but criminals succeed in misusing P2P channels and external wallets.