Bhubaneswar: Police on Monday arrested two youths from Nayapalli for allegedly cheating a group of people of Rs 15 lakh to invest in Bitcoins, the cryptocurrency whose value soared in global stock markets earlier this year.

This was the first instance of a fraud related to Bitcoin in Bhubaneswar. The police said the duo, Sibaprasad Biswal, 29, and Rakesh Acharya, 26, had been arrested in Assam and Chhattisgrah in the recent past for similar frauds. The cops have also seized Rs 50,000 in cash from the accused. However, the mastermind of the racket and Biswal's elder brother managed to escape.

Bitcoins are the first decentralised digital currency and work without a central bank or single administrator. It can be exchanged for other currencies, products, and services in legal or black markets.

The accused had collected around Rs 15 lakh from nine Rourkela and Berhampur residents last April. "The deal was done in a posh hotel here. They assured me that they would open a franchise to circulate Bitcoin and took Rs 3.3 lakh. Later, they stopped taking my calls," alleged Nabin Kumar Pradhan from Rourkela.

The victims laid a trap by luring the accused to invest Rs 10 lakh on the currency. "Subsequently, the duo turned up at a hotel and we nabbed them before handing them over to the police," said another victim.

Deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi said: "The accused had received money to transfer the cryptocurrency, but did not." He said people get trapped by it as almost no one has knowledge about its use.