Key Highlights
- ₹20,000 crore GainBitcoin scam anchors India’s largest crypto fraud, with recovery still under 2% after years of investigation.
- Pune has emerged as India’s crypto scam hub, with Ponzi schemes, digital arrest frauds, and global laundering networks.
- Weak cyber policing, slow investigations, and low digital awareness continue to fuel rising crypto fraud cases.
When people think of Pune, they think of universities, IT parks, a pleasant climate, and a city that attracts retirees from across India. What they don’t think of is cryptocurrency fraud. But over the past decade, this city in Maharashtra has quietly become the single most prolific source of crypto scam cases anywhere in India.
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The reasons are not immediately obvious. Pune is not India’s financial capital. It is not the country’s largest tech hub. But it sits at a unique intersection of factors — a large, wealthy retired population with limited digital security awareness, a booming IT workforce, weak cybercrime policing infrastructure, and direct operational proximity to international laundering networks — that has made it a magnet for crypto fraud at every scale, from multi-level marketing Ponzi schemes worth thousands of crores to individual confidence tricks targeting elderly residents.
This is a comprehensive account of the cryptocurrency scams that have defined Pune’s place in India’s fraud economy, the investigations that have followed, and the systemic gaps that continue to leave the city exposed.
The GainBitcoin ponzi scheme: India’s largest crypto fraud
No account of cryptocurrency fraud in Pune can begin anywhere other than GainBitcoin, the alleged Ponzi scheme that the CBI now estimates to be worth ₹20,000 crore and involving approximately 29,000 mined Bitcoins.
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How GainBitcoin Operated
The scheme was launched in 2015 by Amit Bhardwaj, a former Infosys employee who positioned himself as one of India’s earliest Bitcoin evangelists. Operating through a Singapore-registered entity called Variabletech Pte. Ltd., Bhardwaj promised investors a 10% monthly return in Bitcoin for 18 months through what he described as cloud-mining contracts.
The structure followed a classic multi-level marketing pyramid. Investors were encouraged to recruit others. At the top sat Bhardwaj and his so-called “Seven Stars,” a network of agents who operated across India and overseas. His brothers Ajay and Vivek Bhardwaj, along with associates including Sahil Baghla and Nikunj Jain, were named as key co-conspirators in the Pune Police chargesheet.
According to the chargesheet filed by Pune Police, Amit and Vivek Bhardwaj set up Variabletech in Singapore in 2014. The firm launched a crypto exchange called BitEx before rolling out the GainBitcoin MLM scheme, which offered Bitcoin mining contracts. The Pune Police cyber cell traced more than 60,000 user IDs and email addresses connected to the fraud.
Initially, investors received payouts in Bitcoin. But by 2017, as new investments dried up, returns began to collapse. GainBitcoin then unilaterally switched payouts to an in-house cryptocurrency called MCAP, which held significantly less value than Bitcoin. The CBI stated that this move further misled investors who had originally invested in Bitcoin, not a token created by the scheme’s operators.
The scale of losses
The ED’s investigation revealed that Bhardwaj may have collected between 385,000 and 600,000 Bitcoins. At peak Bitcoin prices, that would amount to well over ₹1 lakh crore. More than 40 FIRs have been registered across India, with over 13 in Maharashtra alone, and estimates suggest that nearly 1 lakh victims may have been affected.
The Pune Police arrested Bhardwaj in April 2018, along with his brothers and the co-founders of GB Miners, for running what was then estimated to be a $300 million cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme. Bhardwaj was granted bail and died of cardiac arrest on January 15, 2022, at the age of 38, leaving the investigation unresolved.
Multiple FIRs were filed against Variabletech and its promoters at Pune’s Dattawadi and Nigdi police stations under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act, and the IT Act.
When the Forensic auditors stole the evidence
In a development that exposed the investigation’s own vulnerability, the cybersecurity experts hired by Pune Police to probe GainBitcoin ended up stealing from the seized cryptocurrency wallets.
In 2018, Pune Police appointed KPMG as the forensic auditor for the case. Two experts, Pankaj Ghode and Ravindranath Patil (an ex-IPS officer from the Jammu and Kashmir cadre), assisted in the blockchain analysis. With their cooperation, Pune Police had originally seized 241.46 Bitcoins, 452 Bitcoin Cash units, and 94 Ethereum units from the 17 suspects arrested in the 2018 case.
However, police later discovered that Ghode had allegedly transferred 900 Bitcoins from the police wallet to his own, while Patil was accused of stealing 237 Bitcoins. Both were arrested in March 2022 following an internal inquiry ordered by the Pune Police DIG in 2020. The duo was accused of producing fake and forged wallet screenshots to conceal the theft. Police managed to seize only approximately ₹6 crore worth of cryptocurrency from them.
The theft did not stop there. In January 2026, Mumbai Police arrested Gaurav Mehta, a 31-year-old software developer who was a director at Sarath & Associates, the firm later appointed as the official forensic auditor. Investigators found that Mehta had allegedly misused access to the seized crypto hardware wallets. His TRONSCAN wallet showed transactions amounting to approximately $9 million. Police said Mehta had used VPNs and blockchain obfuscation methods to hide the diversion of nearly ₹30 crore.
Where the CBI investigation stands today
Given the vast scale of the fraud, the Supreme Court transferred all GainBitcoin-related FIRs to the CBI in December 2023.
In February 2025, the CBI conducted coordinated searches at more than 60 locations across India, including Delhi-NCR, Pune, Chandigarh, Nanded, Kolhapur, and Bengaluru. The agency seized cryptocurrency worth ₹23.94 crore, along with several crypto wallets, 121 documents, 34 laptops and hard disks, and 12 mobile phones.
On March 9, 2026, the CBI made its first major arrest in the case. Ayush Varshney, Co-Founder and CTO of Darwin Labs, was intercepted at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport while allegedly attempting to board a flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka. He was detained on the basis of a Lookout Circular.
According to the CBI, Darwin Labs designed and deployed the digital infrastructure that formed the operational backbone of GainBitcoin, including the MCAP token and its ERC-20 smart contract, the GBMiners.com mining pool, a Bitcoin payment gateway, the Coin Bank wallet, and the GainBitcoin investor website.
The Raj Kundra connection
The ED’s investigation also drew in Bollywood connections. In April 2024, the agency attached ₹97.79 crore in assets belonging to Raj Kundra, including a residential flat in Mumbai’s Juhu (in the name of his wife Shilpa Shetty), a bungalow in Pune, and equity shares.
The ED alleged that Kundra had received 285 Bitcoins from Bhardwaj for setting up a Bitcoin mining farm in Ukraine, a deal that allegedly never materialised. Kundra is still in possession of the 285 Bitcoins, presently valued at more than ₹150 crore, the agency said.
The ED had earlier attached properties worth ₹69 crore in the case. Its investigation also revealed that cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, and TRON, were being used for hawala operations linked to the GainBitcoin promoters.
Key accused Ajay Bhardwaj and Mahender Bhardwaj remain absconding. The ED has sought assistance from foreign countries to trace the proceeds of crime.
What has actually been recovered
Despite more than eight years of investigation across multiple agencies, the recovery in the GainBitcoin case remains starkly inadequate relative to the scale of the fraud.
The ED has attached properties worth approximately ₹166 crore in total. The CBI seized cryptocurrency worth ₹23.94 crore during its February 2025 raids. Pune Police recovered 237 Bitcoins, valued at approximately ₹84 crore at the time, that had been stolen by the forensic auditors. The ED has also partnered with CoinDCX for custody management of seized crypto assets in this and related cases.
Against estimated losses exceeding ₹20,000 crore, the total recovered or attached amount remains well under 2%.
Pune’s BitConnect victims: ₹42 crore lost by a single lawyer
GainBitcoin was not the only global crypto Ponzi to leave its mark on Pune.
A Pune-based lawyer from Kondhwa Budruk was cheated of ₹42 crore after investing through BitConnect, another massive cryptocurrency pyramid scheme. According to the FIR filed with the authorities, the advocate had invested ₹49 lakh in 54 Bitcoins through the platform, which had promised him returns of 166 Bitcoins. He ended up losing 220 Bitcoins in total.
BitConnect operated on a similar multi-level marketing model, promising daily returns of 1% with investments doubling in 100 days. The Pune lawyer’s case remains one of the most high-profile individual crypto fraud losses recorded anywhere in India.
The Bitsolives and Buxcoin scam: Another crypto MLM operated from Pune
In yet another crypto-specific Ponzi case tied to the city, the alleged mastermind behind the Bitsolives fraud was arrested and brought to Pune for investigation.
Prashant Brahmbhatt, a 34-year-old director of Bitsolives, was arrested in Goa in December 2023 after arriving from Dubai. The Cyber Crime Cell of Pune City Police had been investigating at least 10 cases of cheating related to Bitsolives and its associated cryptocurrency Buxcoin since the first FIR was registered in November 2021.
Bitsolives ran a multi-level marketing scheme involving Buxcoin, promising investors extremely high returns. Numerous seminars were held across India to attract potential victims. After accepting large sums of money, the company stopped operations without providing payouts. The firm was operating out of Dubai, though its Pune-based administrative head, Anuj Ojha, and associate Ganesh Sagar were arrested earlier. In total, Bitsolives and its directors face 33 cases across India related to cryptocurrency fraud.
₹10.74 crore digital arrest scam: Crypto as the exit route (January 2026)
Among the most alarming recent cases, an 82-year-old pensioner living on Bhandarkar Road in Pune was cheated of ₹10.74 crore in a nine-day scam between January 23 and January 31, 2026.
How the Scam Worked
The victim received calls from individuals impersonating officials from TRAI, the CBI, and the judiciary who held him under digital arrest. They told him his bank account had been linked to a money-laundering case and warned him of imminent conviction. The fraudsters arranged video calls designed to mimic court proceedings, with people posing as a judge and a lawyer.
Under sustained psychological pressure, the elderly man transferred his entire savings, including fixed deposits and money sent by his children living abroad, in seven transactions totalling ₹10.74 crore.
The Crypto Trail
Investigators found that part of the stolen money had been converted into cryptocurrency and routed through overseas exchanges linked to handlers based in China and Hong Kong. Senior Police Inspector Swapnali Shinde said officers managed to freeze ₹40 lakh and recover ₹4.78 lakh in cash.
Arrests and the Wider Network
Pune Cyber Police arrested two suspects on February 22: Harshad Subhash Dhantole (23), a BTech student, and Samarth Suresh Deshmukh (24), an unemployed graduate. Two other suspects, Rohit Rameshwar Jadhav and Amar Attargi, remain absconding. The case has been linked to at least 11 cybercrime complaints registered across the country, suggesting involvement of a wider network.
A social media influencer from the Marathwada region was also found to have links to the operation. Officers questioned the influencer’s girlfriend after some of the money was traced to one of her bank accounts.
Pune call centre using crypto to launder proceeds
In July 2025, the CBI dismantled a cyber fraud syndicate operating out of Pune and Mumbai that had been defrauding U.S. citizens since January 2025 and generating an estimated ₹3 to 4 crore every month.
The syndicate ran a covert call centre that impersonated officials from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Indian High Commission. Victims were coerced into transferring between $500 and $3,000 through gift cards and cryptocurrency.
Three key members, Amit Dube, Tarun Shenai, and Gonsalves Savio, were arrested following raids across Pune and Mumbai. Investigators recovered 27 mobile phones, 17 laptops, cash worth over ₹11 lakh, approximately 150 grams of narcotics, and a cryptocurrency wallet containing ₹6.9 lakh.
The proceeds were laundered through mule bank accounts, cryptocurrency channels, and hawala operators. The CBI noted that certain bank officials were suspected of facilitating fake accounts using forged KYC documents, circumventing RBI guidelines.
Ongoing Crypto Fraud Wave: Recent Cases
The crypto-specific fraud targeting Pune residents continues to surface with alarming regularity. These cases are part of a broader national crypto fraud crisis that has seen the Supreme Court deny bail in a ₹640 crore crypto scam case involving phishing and layered digital laundering.
Facebook Friendship Crypto Scam (December 2025 to January 2026)
A 66-year-old businessman from Pune’s Kothrud area lost ₹21.63 lakh after being befriended on Facebook by a woman identifying herself as “Ananya alias Lavanya.” Over weeks of daily conversations, she directed him to a fraudulent cryptocurrency app where he initially received 200 USDT and ₹60,000 in his bank account as a trust-building tactic.
Between January 7 and 14, 2026, the victim made multiple transfers. When he tried to withdraw, the platform demanded ₹29 lakh as a “processing charge.” An FIR was registered at Kothrud police station on February 5, 2026.
Digital arrest scams demanding cryptocurrency (2025)
In May 2025, Pune Police issued public advisories after a surge in “digital arrest” scams in which victims were specifically forced to pay in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. One Pune-based IT professional reported losing ₹1.5 lakh in Bitcoin after being threatened with arrest by someone posing as a Mumbai Police officer.
A retired schoolteacher lost ₹80,000 in gift cards after being held on a video call for hours with fake officers.
Pune Police stated that no legitimate law enforcement agency would ever demand cryptocurrency to avoid arrest.
Job recruitment crypto scam (2024)
A 22-year-old Pune resident, Naved Alam, lost ₹2.5 lakh in crypto after being targeted through a fake Web3 job offer. The scam began on X, where a user contacted Alam about a product designer role for a Web3 app called “SocialSpectra.” After moving the conversation to Discord, the fake recruiters directed him to download software that drained his cryptocurrency wallet.
Why Pune? What makes it India’s crypto scam hotspot
The question that has confronted investigators, policymakers, and journalists for years is why Pune, specifically, has become so disproportionately targeted by cryptocurrency fraud.
A retirement destination with high-value, low-awareness targets
Pune has long been one of India’s preferred retirement destinations. Its climate, healthcare infrastructure, and educational institutions attract retired government officials, defence personnel, and private-sector executives from across the country. These retirees possess substantial savings in fixed deposits, pensions, and overseas remittances, but many have limited familiarity with cryptocurrency and digital financial systems.
According to an analysis of Pune’s cybercrime data, people aged 50 to 70 suffer the highest financial losses. Scammers target this demographic with fake crypto trading platforms, digital arrest threats, and social engineering schemes specifically designed to exploit unfamiliarity with blockchain-based assets.
A large, digitally active but unevenly literate population
Pune is home to Hinjewadi IT Park and hundreds of educational institutions, producing a massive digitally active population. But digital activity does not equal digital security awareness. Young adults between 18 and 25 are also increasingly becoming victims, driven by heavy social media usage and exposure to influencer-driven cryptocurrency investment advice.
Severely under-resourced cybercrime infrastructure
Despite Pune reportedly accounting for nearly 25% of India’s cybercrime cases, the city had only one dedicated cyber police station as of late 2025. The Maharashtra Assembly sanctioned five new cyber police stations in mid-2025, but they had not become operational on the ground by the end of the year.
Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar acknowledged a 776% increase in online scam cases in 2024 compared to the previous year. The Pune Police Commissionerate submitted a proposal to the state government requesting an additional commissioner of police position, six new deputy commissioner posts, and two dedicated cyber police stations for the city’s eastern and western divisions.
Proximity to international crypto laundering networks
Pune’s strong banking infrastructure, international connectivity, and English-speaking workforce make it an attractive operational base for cross-border fraud networks that use cryptocurrency as their primary laundering tool.
The CBI’s July 2025 bust of the Pune-based call centre demonstrated how the city’s legitimate business infrastructure can be co-opted for crypto-facilitated crime. The ₹10.74 crore digital arrest case showed crypto exchanges in China and Hong Kong being used as the final exit ramp for stolen Indian funds.
Investigations that move slower than the crimes
Perhaps the most damning factor is the pace of justice. The GainBitcoin investigation has been ongoing for more than eight years. Key accused remain absconding. Forensic auditors stole from the evidence. Recovery rates remain in single-digit percentages. The absence of a national regulatory body specifically monitoring cryptocurrency assets, combined with the technically complex nature of blockchain-based transactions, gives crypto scammers a persistent structural advantage.
What authorities are doing
The response from Indian authorities has been multi-pronged, though it continues to lag behind the scale of the problem.
The government’s PRAHAAR counter-terrorism strategy flagged the growing use of crypto wallets by criminal networks when it was released in February 2026. A dedicated darknet and cryptocurrency task force has been set up under the Multi-Agency Centre. The CBI has separately registered a ₹350 crore crypto Ponzi case and conducted searches at 10 locations across seven states.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced the establishment of a “Centre of Excellence in Digital Forensic” in Pune to aid forensic investigations related to crypto fraud. The state’s Home Department is developing a semi-automated processing system to speed up pending investigations.
Pune Police have focused on freezing cryptocurrency-linked bank accounts within the “golden hours” after a complaint is filed. Officers are receiving specialized training. The proposal for additional cyber police stations and senior posts is pending with the state government.
Yet the fundamental challenge remains. Cryptocurrency transactions, once routed through decentralized exchanges, privacy coins, and offshore wallets, are extraordinarily difficult to trace. Cross-border cooperation moves slowly. And the technical capabilities of organised crypto fraud syndicates continue to outpace those of the enforcement agencies trying to catch them.
The bottom line
Pune’s cryptocurrency scam crisis is not a collection of unrelated incidents. It is a systemic problem, driven by a specific set of conditions that make the city uniquely vulnerable to a specific type of crime.
From the ₹20,000 crore GainBitcoin Ponzi that has consumed three separate investigation agencies over nearly a decade to the ₹10.74 crore crypto-routed digital arrest scam that targeted an 82-year-old pensioner in January 2026, the pattern holds. Victims lose large. Recovery is negligible. Networks evolve. And the crypto infrastructure that enables the fraud only becomes more sophisticated with time.
As India continues to lead global crypto adoption, the collision between legitimate digital asset use and criminal exploitation will only intensify. And unless Pune’s crypto-crime infrastructure catches up to the scale of the threat it faces, the city will remain what it has quietly become: India’s crypto scam capital.
The question is no longer whether more crypto scams will happen in Pune. It is whether anyone will be ready when they do.
Also Read: India’s CBI Arrests ‘Kingpin’ Behind Crypto Scam Camps in Myanmar
