What started as a quest for companionship ended in betrayal and financial ruin for Vinay (name changed), a pre-owned motorcycle businessman from Bangalore, who was conned out of ₹38.85 lakh in a sophisticated romance-cum-crypto scam. According to an FIR filed on May 27, Vinay met a woman named Lakshmi Priya through a popular matrimonial website. The initial exchanges were warm and frequent, soon escalating into a video call where Lakshmi introduced people she claimed were her family—creating a deceptive sense of trust.
The emotional connect deepened when Lakshmi introduced her uncle, purportedly the head of a UK-based investment firm. Together, they lured Vinay into investing in a suspicious cryptocurrency platform called Bost Base, accessible only via a third-party link.
Vinay began cautiously, depositing ₹65,000, and was soon shown fake profits that appeared to multiply quickly. Encouraged by the seemingly legitimate returns and Lakshmi’s daily reassurances; he invested close to ₹25 lakh in total.
But the real sting came when he tried to withdraw the funds. He was told he had to first clear UK taxes amounting to ₹21 lakh before accessing his returns, allegedly now worth over ₹1.4 crore. Lakshmi insisted this was the final hurdle, even offering ₹5 lakh herself and claiming her uncle had reduced the service fee slightly.
Under emotional and financial pressure, Vinay borrowed heavily from friends and family and made the transfers to multiple accounts Lakshmi provided. Then, everything went silent. All contact with Lakshmi ceased on May 27. I felt like I was talking to a family, Vinay stated in his complaint, recounting how she offered daily profit updates and even spoke of their future life together.