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Law enforcement in India has arrested five suspects who allegedly duped a businessman out of roughly $700,000 via a fake cryptocurrency trading platform. According to local media , the five suspects, including one woman, were taken into custody following an investigation by the cybercrime wing of Odisha’s Crime Branch. The accused reportedly ran a scam using a bogus trading app called ZAIF, where they promised massive returns of up to 200% on digital currency investments. The trading platform was promoted as being based in Japan. It’s worth noting that ZAIF is the name of a legitimate Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, which suffered a $60 million hack in 2022. However, the platform used in this scam is likely unaffiliated and merely borrowed the name to appear credible. The fraud kicked off when the victim, an Indian businessman, was contacted on Facebook by a woman claiming to be a Hong Kong-based IBM software developer. She gained his trust and convinced him to invest in crypto via ZAIF. Over a month, he transferred more than INR 6 crore (approximately $$699,352) across various accounts controlled by the scammers. As is common in such crypto trading scams, the victim was initially shown fake profits on the platform to build trust. However, when the victim attempted to withdraw gains, the platform demanded an additional INR 89 lakh to unlock the funds — a tactic commonly referred to as an advance fee fraud . Once the victim refused, the scammers vanished, cutting off contact. Police tracked down the suspects through digital trails and banking records. Authorities seized phones, SIM cards, ID documents, and other incriminating materials during a raid. With cryptocurrencies still operating in a grey area , India remains a hotspot for scams and fraud targeting unsuspecting users. Earlier this month, police cracked down on a similar scam that promoted a fake token called RSN and promised 2% daily returns . Losses were estimated to be between $1.14 and $2.29 million.

Harpie, a service aimed at preventing wallet theft and hacks, has shut down after struggling to develop a sustainable business model. Harpie, an on-chain firewall provider backed by Coinbase Ventures and OpenSea , has shut down its services as the startup failed to create a “sustainable business” model around a “theft-free crypto ecosystem,” it said in an X thread on Thursday, March 27. We've made the tough decision to shut down Harpie. Services will be shut down immediately. (1/5) The company, which worked to protect crypto users from hacks, scams, and theft, shared in the post that it hopes to have made an “impact” and inspired other companies to “take that torch and solve this tough problem.” According to the announcement, Harpie’s services would be shut down immediately, and users were instructed to disconnect their wallets from the Harpie RPC using their wallet’s network switcher. “If your transactions are failing, please disconnect your wallets from the Harpie RPC via your wallet’s network switcher. We will be creating a utility to move vaulted assets on the Harpie website in the coming days.” Harpie Even with the shutdown, Harpie made sure to let everyone know that all pending giveaways and rewards from its referral program would still be honored. The shutdown comes nearly three years after Harpie raised $4.5 million in a funding round led by Dragonfly Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and OpenSea. Initially, the startup’s business model charged a 7% fee on any recovered asset, according to Harpie’s whitepaper. However, over time, Harpie shifted to a fixed fee of 0.01 ETH per asset, regardless of the amount recovered.

Linear Finance announces cessation of operations Decentralized asset protocol Linear Finance $LINA has announced via X its decision to cease operations, citing ongoing challenges in generating sustainable revenue.

🚨 JUST IN: Ripple partners with Chipper Cash to enable instant, cost-effective cross border payments into Africa via crypto and Ripple Pay.

14/ That being said, BTC-Fi mass adoption is inevitable. But how? Organic distribution + gradual mindset shift from HODLing to asset productivity among $BTC OGs. Utilisation will be key to unlocking its full potential and the fastest way to accelerate this is via DeFi on