Rajnandgaon, Apr 5 (PTI) A man in Chhattisgarh's Ranjangaon has claimed he lost Rs 81 lakh after a "Chinese woman" lured him into investing in a cryptocurrency scheme with the promise of three-fold returns, a police official said on Tuesday.

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A case has been registered in Kotwali police station on the complaint of Dr Abhishek Pal, informed Rajnandgaon Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh.

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"Pal claims to have got acquainted with a woman named Anna Li from Hong Kong through a social networking site. On her recommendation, he invested USD 35,000, approximately Rs 26 lakh, in a trading app. In all, he invested USD 107,825, which comes to Rs 81 lakh," the official said quoting the complaint.

The SP said Pal was unable to withdraw his money even after depositing "tax" as demanded by those operating the scheme, and further hurdles and "tax" demands convinced him that he had been duped.

A case has been registered under IPC and Information Technology provisions for cheating and other offences, the official added.

As per a press note posted on the National Cyber Crime portal, these scams, which have originated in China, was akin to "pig butchering" where the animal is fattened before being killed for meat.

Similarly, women are deployed to lure victims, mostly over social media, to invest in various fraudulent schemes, it said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)