An upsetting story about a 71-year-old digital artist who was duped by con artists acting as NFT art merchants has surfaced in India. The victim, a chartered accountant by trade who used by the pseudonym Shivaprasad R, lost INR 1.58 lakhs (about $1895) in what looked to be platform fees that the con artists had fraudulently claimed.
Shivaprasad, who is well-known for his creative works that are displayed in regional exhibitions and on social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram, came upon the con artists posing as “NFT art dealers” in October of 2023. These con artists tricked the artist into using a fictitious website called nfttradeplace.com for art trading.
NFT Artist Falls Victim
The conversations took place online through Facebook and email under the pretense of buying his artworks for a significant 42 ETH, or INR 1.09 crore. The digital artist offered three of his creations for 10 ETH each and one for 12 ETH, giving in to the temptation of the offer.
According to a cybercrime investigator, on February 1, 2024, the artist was forced to pay 0.115 ETH as a “gas fee” to the scammers’ website. This was done from a cryptocurrency wallet that the crooks had set up.
The conversations took place online through Facebook and email under the pretense of buying his artworks for a significant 42 ETH, or INR 1.09 crore. The digital artist offered three of his creations for 10 ETH each and one for 12 ETH, giving in to the temptation of the offer.
According to a cybercrime investigator, on February 1, 2024, the artist was forced to pay 0.115 ETH as a “gas fee” to the scammers’ website. This was done from a cryptocurrency wallet that the crooks had set up.
Shivaprasad became aware of this when he kept receiving demands for more money in order to withdraw his six Ethereum. Thus, on April 17, the victim reported the incident to cyber police and filed a complaint under sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology (IT) Act as well as section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) pertaining to computer-assisted fraud and identity theft, respectively.
Investigating authorities are negotiating the difficulties of locating bitcoin addresses while attempting to gather bank and domain information related to the bogus email addresses. This incident demonstrates how cryptocurrency-related scams are become increasingly prevalent in India despite governmental constraints.
The incident follows the Enforcement Directorate of India’s recent investigation of a prior Ponzi scheme involving a Bollywood star and a $800 million recruitment scam.
