Man speaks in female voice for 6 months to cheat Pune law student of 1,468 USDT cryptocurrency

The student later found that the fraudster had used a Chandigarh-based influencer's photo on his Snapchat profile to dupe him.

2 min readPuneUpdated: Sep 7, 2026 05:52 PM IST

The student received a request on Snapchat from a user named “Princika Joshi”. (AI image)

A 25-year-old man cheated a Pune-based law student of 1,468 USDT, valued at Rs 1.41 lakh, in a fake cryptocurrency scheme after luring him through social media by speaking in a female voice, the police said.

According to the Pune city cyber police, the 23-year-old student received a request on Snapchat from a user named “Princika Joshi” on October 10, 2025. The user, speaking in a female voice, assured the student of huge profits from cryptocurrency trading.

The student thus opened an account on the cryptocurrency trading application Binance and contacted an “online agent” to buy the USDT cryptocurrency. Princika then asked the student to send USDT to her crypto wallet, saying she would invest it and later transfer the profit to his account, according to the FIR.

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Later, between January 9, 2026 and March 24, 2026, the student transferred 1,468 USDT to Princika from his crypto wallet and the crypto wallets of a relative and the “online agent”. But he never got any profit.

On July 19, 2026, when the student checked Princika’s profile picture through Google Lens, he learnt that it was the photograph of a Chandigarh-based influencer. When he questioned Princika about it, her social media accounts were deleted within minutes.

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It was then that the law student realised he had been cheated. He then filed a complaint, based on which the police on August 13 registered an FIR against the fraudster on charges of cheating and identity theft.

The cyber police investigated the fraudster’s Snapchat ID and found that a man—Kunal Jitendra Admane, a hotel management professional from the Parvati area—was using it.

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The police arrested Admane on August 31 and are investigating whether he had cheated more people similarly.

The police have appealed to people to be cautious while interacting with strangers online and not to blindly trust anyone assuring profits on investments.

Chandan Haygunde

Chandan Haygunde is an Assistant Editor at The Indian Express, based in Pune. With over 20 years of experience in journalism, he is one of the region's most authoritative voices on crime, national security, and legal affairs. Professional Profile Specialization: He specialises covering issues related to Crime, Courts, National Security and Human Rights. He has done investigative reporting on incidents of terrorism, left wing extremism, espionage cases, wildlife crimes, narcotics racket, cyber crimes and sensational murder cases in Pune and other parts of Maharashtra. While working on the ‘Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) Fellowship on Tigers, Tiger Habitats and Conservation’ in 2012, he reported extensively on the illegal activities in the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra. He is at the helm of the widely read weekly series “Pune Crime Files”. He is widely recognized for his deep-dive coverage of the cases related to the Koregaon Bhima violence in Pune and the Elgaar Parishad investigation. Key Beats: His portfolio includes covering crimes mainly under the jurisdiction of Pune City, Pune rural and Pimpri Chinchwad Police, along with the sensitive cases from the state, being investigated by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Background: Before his long tenure at The Indian Express, he worked with other Marathi and English publications, giving him a unique grassroots understanding of Maharashtra's socio-political landscape. Awards and Recognition: He got the CMS PANOS Young Environment Journalist Award in January 2014 for investigative reports on illegal activities in Sahyadri Tiger Rerserve. He received the award for outstanding investigative journalism by the Lokmat group in Pune in January 2020, “Missing since 2010, Pune youth a ‘Maoist Commander’ in Chhattisgarh”, which appeared on July 9, 2019. Signature Style: The Investigative Hit Chandan is known for his ability to cultivate deep-cover sources within the police and intelligence agencies. His writing often goes beyond the "police version" of events, providing historical context and identifying systemic lapses. He is particularly respected for his balanced reporting on sensitive communal issues and his persistent tracking of the Maoist urban-link cases, making his columns essential reading for legal experts and policymakers. X (Twitter): @chandan_pune ... Read More

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