Indian Man Tried To Jump Off Bridge After Suffering Loss In Crypto: Report

A 23-year-old professional with a large technology company who lost nearly Rs. 30 lakh (approx. $37,500) in the cryptocurrency market tried to commit suicide by jumping from a river bridge in Kolkata, India.

A taxi driver who noticed the young man on the Vidyasagar Setu (bridge) alerted the nearby police about his intentions.

Loan to invest in crypto

The police were able to prevent the technician from jumping from the famous bridge into the river, the media reports, without mentioning the youth’s name.

After being questioned, the youth told the police that he had used money from loans, valuables and even his mother’s pension to invest in cryptocurrencies and had suffered huge losses. In recent weeks, he is said to have received threatening phone calls from people who had borrowed him. In desperation, he decided to commit suicide and come to the famous bridge for this intention.

According to the police, this was the fourth incident when they tried to prevent suicide by jumping off the bridge. In two cases they managed to save them.

Crypto adoption is growing

India has reported a high crypto adoption rate and is expected to surpass 150 million crypto users by the end of 2023. According to a HedgewithCrypto study, India is the 7th largest nation in terms of crypto adoption, with Australia, the US and Brazil occupying the first, second and third positions respectively place.

The crypto market has lost nearly $2 trillion in value since peaking around November 2021, and Investors all over the world have had their share of bad luck. Globally, crypto investors were also hit by the collapses of some of the biggest firms in the past year.

But despite the prolonged crypto winter and some major companies failing to survive, studies suggest that investor confidence in the asset class and intermediaries remains strong.

Lack of investment knowledge

But Indian investors seem to lack knowledge and information about safe crypto trading and this leads to a high number of fraud cases. For example, Bengaluru, which prides itself on being India’s biggest hub for information technology companies and startups, saw a flurry of crypto scams in 2022, which collectively defrauded Rs 70 crore (about $8.7 million).

The crypto potato reported last month that a B.Com student committed suicide in the Indian city of Lucknow after losing $4,200 in a Bitcoin scam.