Indian police probe fake crypto exchange scam

TLDR

Indian police are investigating a fake crypto investment scheme that used a lookalike CoinDCX website to scam an investor out of roughly 71 lakh rupees.

1. Thane Police opened a fraud case after a victim reported losses via a phishing site impersonating CoinDCX, with the exchanges founders questioned but their arrest status disputed.
2. CoinDCX says the complaint is false and blames a broader impersonation scam involving more than 1,200 fake sites using its brand, amid a wider surge in Indian investment fraud.
3. The probe highlights growing risks from fake exchanges and phishing in India, making domain verification and skepticism toward too good to be true returns critical for crypto users.

Deep Dive

1. What Police Are Investigating

The case began when a 42?year?old insurance consultant in Thane reported losing about ?71.6 lakh (around 75,000 to 85,000 dollars) through a website dressed up to look like CoinDCX, promising 10 to 12 percent returns.

A First Information Report (FIR) reportedly names CoinDCX co?founders Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal among six individuals, and Indian media differ on whether they were formally arrested or only questioned, but all agree they were summoned by police in connection with the alleged scam.

Crypto outlets and local media describe the site as a phishing or impersonation setup, separate from CoinDCXs real platform and domains such as coindcx.com, and the investigation is ongoing with no court finding yet on guilt or liability.

2. CoinDCXs Position And The Scam Pattern

CoinDCX states that the FIR is false and part of a conspiracy by impersonators, saying funds went to third?party accounts with no operational link to its exchange and that the complainant was not a platform user. Reports note the company has warned that CoinDCX is being targeted by fraudsters, and that this case matches a classic impersonation fraud pattern.

Public statements cited by multiple outlets say CoinDCX has identified more than 1,200 websites mimicking its brand between April 2024 and early 2026, illustrating how scammers clone trusted exchange names and user interfaces to lure deposits. One detailed summary highlights that investment scams accounted for around 76 percent of all financial losses from cybercrime in India in 2025.

CoinDCX, backed by Coinbase Ventures and valued in the billions, has also faced a separate $44 million internal wallet breach in 2025, but in that incident customer funds were reported as unaffected, reinforcing that this new case is about off?platform brand abuse, not a direct hack of user balances.

3. Why It Matters For Crypto Users

For Indian crypto users, the main risk signal here is the ease with which fake exchange sites can piggyback on a big brand, mix in promises of high monthly returns, and still look convincing to non?experts.

Because investigators are still sorting out who exactly ran the fake operation and what role, if any, named individuals had, the clearest protection today is behavioral: double?checking domains, only accessing exchanges through trusted app stores or saved bookmarks, and treating unsolicited offers with guaranteed high yields as major red flags.

At a policy level, this case is likely to fuel calls in India for faster takedowns of phishing domains, clearer platform responsibilities, and more coordinated action between law enforcement and exchanges, which could change how crypto platforms are supervised in the country.

Conclusion

Indian police are not shutting down a registered exchange here, but probing a fraud in which scammers allegedly cloned CoinDCXs identity and drained funds from victims. The conflicting reports on arrest versus questioning matter less than the consistent pattern of brand impersonation, which has already produced more than a thousand fake sites. For everyday users, the practical implication is to treat any exchange interaction as a security decision and verify that you are on the real platform before moving any money.