Hyderabad techie duped of ₹45 lakh in bitcoin scam via matrimonial site.
HYDERABAD: An IT employee from Mokila was cheated of ₹45.64 lakh after being lured into a bitcoin investment scheme by a woman posing as an NRI on a matrimonial website.
According to Cyberabad police, Srikanth Davuluri, 48, a resident of NCC Vivanta Central Court apartments in Mokila, lodged a complaint on September 16, 2025. He said he had created a profile on Shaadi.com on July 7, 2025. The next day, a user identifying herself as Bhavanika Reddy contacted him, claiming she had been living in Amsterdam for six years.
Woman offered bitcoin trading advice
She shared a WhatsApp number and encouraged him to invest in bitcoin, citing her uncle’s “team of analysts.” She guided him to register on a website, bitcoin-ha.com, and perform trades.
Initially, Davuluri purchased 1,400 USDT by transferring ₹1.4 lakh to an Indian account. He was able to make a small profit and successfully withdraw ₹10,000, which boosted his confidence.
Multiple transfers made to Indian payees
Later, under her instructions, he made repeated payments to Indian bank accounts. On August 9, he lost 8,000 USDT (₹8 lakh). When he questioned this, she claimed his wallet balance was insufficient and advised him to increase it to 30,000 USDT.
Between July and September, Davuluri made 16 transactions from his ICICI Bank account, amounting to ₹45,64,300. These included a major transfer of ₹25 lakh to meet a so-called compliance requirement. Although his trading account displayed profits exceeding ₹3.7 crore, withdrawals were blocked.
Scam exposed after ‘tax demand’
On September 3, he requested to withdraw 10,000 USDT. The next day, “customer support” told him that a 15% capital gains tax of ₹47.68 lakh must be paid to release the funds. This raised suspicion, and Davuluri realised he had been defrauded.
He has named the website bitcoin-ha.com, WhatsApp numbers linked to the fraud (+31 619170290 and +34 613116188), and unknown Indian account holders as accused. Police registered his complaint and are investigating.
