Bengaluru: The main accused in the Bitcoin scam, Srikrishna alias Sriki alias AP (his Internet identity), has mysteriously gone incommunicado. His phones have been switched off and he has vanished from the police radar, giving anxious moments to authorities.
Sriki had neither asked for security cover nor has he been provided with one, said sources. “But there is a close watch on him,” police sources had said. Despite all this, he managed to vanish.
Despite this development, sources said that the investigating team has decided to dial the Interpol for help. Sirki has left behind large digital footprints of his crime in his logs, Skype chats and on Facebook etc. “The digital evidence needs to be forensically traced and investigated for a better understanding of the cybercrime. Since the servers of all these exchanges and websites are overseas, the assistance from the Interpol is necessary,” sources were quoted in the media.
Sriki had claimed that he had hacked gaming portals, international websites and crypto exchange servers in countries like the US, China, Bangladesh, the Netherlands and Ukraine. Though it is just a claim, the police have decided to do a detailed and intense investigation. After the City police, the CID, is reportedly approaching the Interpol for help in hacking cases that Srikrishna has confessed to be reportedly involved overseas with his “network of friends in Italy, France, Germany etc.
Sriki has also been accused of downloading tender bids, hacking international websites, Bitclubs, stealing and dumping data and purchasing drugs on the Silk Road -- the darknet market website, to moving 80,000 euros from cold wallets in India to Europe.
However, his voluntary statement to the police, which has no evidentiary value in the court, is a narrative of his adventures as a hacker at a young age to a drug addict to his ventures into international cybercrimes with a vast network of like-minded people. However, sources said there are inconsistencies in his statement, which raise questions on the authenticity of his claims.
