Ludhiana: FIR against six in ₹43 lakh crypto fraud

Ludhiana: Model town police have booked six persons for cheating after they allegedly duped a person of Rs 43 lakh by luring him to invest in US Dollars Tether (USDT), a digital currency. The complainant Jaskaranjit Singh, of Dugri, told cops that the accused had contacted him and deceived him by promising him a substantial return in a short time if he invested in USDT. He added that believing their promise, he invested approximately Rs 43 lakh.As per the complainant, However, after receiving the money, the accused neither paid him any profit nor returned his original amount. He then complained to the police, who investigated and filed a case. After investigation, the police named Gurdeep Singh resident of village Ranghiya, Manpreet Singh resident of Ranjit Avenue, Kapurthala, Parminder Singh resident of Manjit Nagar, Satwinder Singh alias Prince Abdullahpur Basti, Ludhiana, Kuldeep Singh and Bhatti resident of Jalandhar as accused in the case.Sources said that, the victim, Jaskaranjit Singh, filed a complaint regarding this fraud on July 7, 2025. After a thorough investigation by the Economic Offences Wing of the police department, an FIR was registered at the Model Town police station on March 18, 2026. They added that it took Police around eight months to register a case. Police sources said that Police teams are currently conducting raids at various locations to arrest the accused. They added that police expect major disclosures about the network after the accused are arrested in the case.In September last year cops had busted a Dubai-linked gambling network that spun rupees into cryptocurrency and left victims chasing phantom payouts. Ludhiana Rural police had claimed after arresting five men that this racket had funnelled crores of dollars to a suspected mastermind sitting abroad.