Mumbai: A 38-year-old businessman from Nagpur lost Rs 54.35 lakh in a cryptocurrency scam. After befriending a woman on Facebook who claimed big profits in crypto, he was lured into investing via two fake apps.

The scammers promised returns in USDT/Bitcoin, added him to a crypto WhatsApp group, and shared fake earnings on app dashboards. Between April 7 and June 5, he made over a dozen transfers to different bank accounts. When he requested a withdrawal, he was asked to pay Rs 21 lakh more.