Man Gets 7 Years Jail for ₹1.13 Crore Crypto Scam in Odisha

Cuttack: The Balasore OPID (Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors) Court has sentenced a man to seven years of imprisonment for defrauding investors of over ₹1.13 crore through a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scheme.

The convict, Nilesh Kar, was also fined ₹2.35 lakh by the court. Failure to pay the fine will result in an additional two-year jail term.

The case stemmed from a complaint lodged by Sahadebkhunta resident Mahamanya Jena, who alleged that Kar duped him into investing ₹2,13,038 between January and March 2023 via the “Cloud Foot” app and website, promising exaggerated returns of over ₹50 lakh. However, the platform was abruptly shut down, and Jena was unable to retrieve his investment.

Following a police complaint filed on April 5, 2023, investigations revealed that Kar was leading Cloud Foot’s operations in Odisha. He had reportedly deceived more than 400 investors across the State, using fabricated documents, including a fake RBI approval letter and an appointment letter from Cloud Foot, to gain their trust.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), which took over the investigation, confirmed that the scam had pan-India ramifications, affecting investors beyond Odisha with false promises of high returns through crypto investments.