A multi-crore Ponzi scheme with links to the cryptocurrency trading has been busted in Bengaluru.
Acting on public complaints, the Central Crime Branch (CCB) arrested the director of a company accused of cheating more than 2,000 people.
The CCB said Ranganath D S ran a website named digitechmark.live through an unregistered company. The website promised high returns on investments and collected thousands of crores of rupees, said Bolettin M S, the inspector of the CCB's Economic Offences Wing, which nabbed Ranganath.
According to the CCB, Ranganath and his associates advertised about the company on social media, contacted people on WhatsApp, YouTube and held meetings on Zoom.
People who invested Rs 15,000 were promised Rs 1 lakh by December 2021 and Rs 25 lakh by 2025. Investors who put in Rs 50,000 were guaranteed Rs 3 lakh by the end of this year and Rs 2 crore by 2025. Those who deposited Rs 1 lakh were assured Rs 7 lakh by December and Rs 3 crore by 2025, the CCB said.
The lofty promises worked, and more than 2,000 people signed up for the company's investment schemes. Each investor was given a user name and password, and urged to recruit more investors, the CCB explained.
Each referral was rewarded with a commission and a bonus. It was essentially a pyramid scheme.
The investors' money was routed to a bank account from where it was later used to buy and sell Torn, a cryptocurrency, on an exchange.
The CCB said it was in the process of seizing the money.
(Published 21 June 2021, 20:04 IST)
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