KATHMANDU, JULY 3
The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police has arrested 52 individuals, including 6 Chinese nationals, in connection with an illegal dating app and cryptocurrency scam operating under the guise of a call center.
Acting on special information, a CIB team raided a rented house at Damkalchowk in Balifal of Lalitpur Metropolitan City-4 on July 1. The site was found to be operating a call center under the name Social Software Development Company Pvt. Ltd., which was being used to run a dating app called METOO.
A second location in Chagil, Kathmandu Metropolitan City-23, was also raided in connection with the online dating scam. According to authorities, several Nepali women were lured via dating apps and then used in fraudulent online dating and cryptocurrency-related activities.
The six Chinese nationals believed to be the key operators have been charged under offenses related to intangible (digital) currency, while investigations are ongoing against the remaining 46 Nepali nationals.
The chinese nationals have been identified as Zhang Lun (29), Chen Jiahao (27), Lin De (41), Xu Zheng (32), Liu Zexuan (30), and Xu Linghua (33), all from Guangdong in China, currently residing in Patan of Lalitpur Metropolitan City.
The police have confiscated unaccounted cash amounting to Rs 13.9 million, seven laptops and fifty-four mobile phones from the arrested suspects.
Authorities have also requested everyone to refrain from engaging in such illegal activities and to report any information or knowledge about such activities to the nearest police office or the Central Investigation Bureau.
