The co-founders of CoinDCX, India's largest cryptocurrency exchange by valuation, were summoned for police questioning March 21 following a fraud complaint linked to a fake website impersonating the platform.
The exchange denied any wrongdoing, saying impersonators operated an unrelated site to defraud the complainant and falsely used the founders' identities.
Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal were questioned by Thane Police in connection with a First Information Report filed March 16.
The complainant - a 42-year-old insurance consultant from Mumbra - alleged losses of ₹71.6 lakh (roughly $85,000) after investing in a scheme between August 2025 and March 2026 that promised 10–12% returns.
The Economic Times reported the founders were arrested; Entrackr, Moneycontrol, and other outlets reported they were called for questioning without arrest. CoinDCX did not confirm an arrest.
A Fake Domain at the Center
CoinDCX said in a statement on X that the FIR was "false and filed as a conspiracy" and that the fraud was carried out through the domain coindcx.pro - a site with no connection to its official coindcx.com platform.
The company said funds were diverted to third-party accounts unrelated to the exchange, and that the victim had not contacted CoinDCX before filing the complaint.
The FIR names six individuals, including the two founders alongside Akash Rana, Rahul Gupta, P. Vasudev, and Shivam Sharma. Between April 2024 and January 2026, CoinDCX identified more than 1,212 websites impersonating its domain.
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Context: Scams and a Prior Breach
India's Ministry of Home Affairs data shows investment scams accounted for 76% of all financial cybercrime losses in the country in 2025.
The latest case adds to a difficult period for CoinDCX. In July 2025, hackers used a fake job offer to install malware on an employee's laptop and drained $44.2 million from an internal operational wallet.
A software engineer was later arrested in connection with the breach. The company said customer funds were unaffected in that incident.
CoinDCX was founded in Mumbai in 2018 and is valued at $2.45 billion following a Coinbase Ventures investment in October 2025.
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