Hyderabad crypto deal turns sour as fake KYC drains USDT worth ₹1 crore
HYDERABAD: A Hyderabad-based businessman has lodged a complaint with the Cyber Crime Police, alleging that fraudsters siphoned off 1,04,089 USDT (TRC20), valued at nearly ₹1 crore, from his cryptocurrency wallet through a malicious KYC link.
According to the complaint filed on February 3, 2026, Satish Shenam, 44, said he was acting as an authorised representative of his family friend Chandra Shekhar Duggirala, who is associated with a crypto entity, Legendary Prospects LLC. Shenam stated that they routinely deal in cryptocurrency transactions.
Deal finalised, KYC demand raised at last minute
Shenam told police that in January 2026, he explored a requirement for USDT (TRC20) through mediators T Madhavi Reddy, Srikanth Marneni, Rekha, Satish Jaju and Arjun. Buyer representatives were introduced as Srikanth Bairoju of Capital Vehicles Sales Limited, Gaikwad, who claimed to be from Pune, and Vikas Poddar, who claimed to be from Delhi.
After discussions, the deal was finalised at ₹96.50 per USDT for 1,00,000 USDT, with the transaction scheduled for January 28, 2026. Shenam said he loaded his wallet with 1,00,000 USDT, worth about ₹91.54 lakh.
As part of the deal, a test transfer of 1 USDT was sent on January 27, 2026, followed by another test transfer of 5 USDT on January 28, 2026, to wallet addresses shared by the buyers.
However, during an in-person meeting in Hyderabad on January 28, Srikanth Bairoju allegedly insisted that KYC verification was mandatory and asked Shenam to complete it through a website, trontag.org. The deal was postponed to January 29 after the KYC process was completed and screenshots were shared with the buyer.
Wallet found empty next morning
On the morning of January 29, when the buyer again asked for a test transfer of 1 USDT, Shenam said he discovered that his wallet had been completely drained. He suspected that the KYC website was malicious.
Subsequent verification showed that multiple unauthorised transactions had taken place around 02.00 UTC on January 29, transferring funds to another wallet. The complaint stated that an approval transaction signed during the fake KYC process granted unlimited USDT access to the attacker.
Police were provided transaction hashes showing the alleged theft of 1,00,000 USDT in the first transaction, followed by additional transfers of 4,000 USDT and 89 USDT, taking the total loss to 1,04,089 USDT.
Shenam requested the cyber crime police to register a case, investigate the incident, trace the wallet transactions and recover the funds.
