Rs 1 Cr Crypto Trade: Odisha STF Takes OTP-Sharing Scam Accused On Remand

Bhubaneswar: A day after detecting crypto transactions worth Rs 1 crore, the Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Crime Branch on Thursday took one of the accused in the OTP-sharing scam, involving agents of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pritam Kar on two-day remand.

Pathanisamanta Lenka, the alleged mastermind of the scam, Saroj Nayak and Soumya Patnaik were arrested last month while Kar of Jajpur district’s Bhurunga village was taken into custory on June 11 for allegedly selling OTPs, mule bank accounts and pre-activated digital wallets to cyber criminals and ISI agents since 2017.

Further probe into the sensational scam revealed the accused were involved in cryptocurrency trade amounting to over Rs 1 crore.

According to STF, Kar had opened an account with a leading cryptocurrency exchange platform and linked two bank accounts and a unified payments interface (UPI) ID with the exchange. He had traded in cryptocurrency (buying/selling) amounting to over Rs 1 crore over the last two years. He purchased cryptocurrency worth Rs 1 crore but later sold them and received more than Rs 97 lakh. He received crypto deposits from unidentified sources through foreign exchanges like Coinbase, FTX Trading Limited and BitMart.

Also Read: OTP-Sharing Scam: Odisha STF Detects Crypto Trade Worth Over Rs 1 Crore

A dubious person had reportedly referred Kar and more than 1,000 other people to open accounts in the exchange. The accused too had referred at least 15 people to open accounts with the exchange.

Sources said that the STF is investigating whether the accused received cryptocurrency from Pakistani agents against OTPs and pre-activated SIMs.