Hyd police bust ponzi scheme; 'swindlers' net Rs 7-crore in 3 months

In order to attract investors, the four accused claimed their establishment to be a multinational company based in the UK. They floated a website and a mobile application and put up photographs of foreigners as directors and team members of the company.

Cyberabad (Telangana): Police busted an online investment scam and arrested four people on Monday. By promising high return on investment, the four accused cheated nearly 2,500 people from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The police said the four amassed over Rs 7 crore from unsuspecting investors.

In order to attract investors, the four accused claimed their establishment to be a multinational company based in the UK. They floated a website and a mobile application and put up photographs of foreigners as directors and team members of the company, Cyberabad Commissioner of Police V C Sajjanar told reporters. Even though no company existed physically and there was no product involved, the accused used two virtual UK numbers for communicating with the customers and offered them high returns on their investments, the police said.

Any person who wished to invest in the company had to register as a member and could deposit in five investment plans with amounts ranging between Rs 10,000 and Rs 1 lakh. They would be given a refund of 5 per cent of the invested amount as commission every day for up to 60 working days, they said.

If the member brought on board another customer then they would get 10 per cent commission on the investment, they said. The accused initially offered a commission to some depositors, while rest of the investors were were defrauded, the police said.

The four accused ran the company from July to September this year and closed it since they got scared of the huge money trail in their bank accounts, the police said. One of the victims from Hyderabad filed a complaint with the police in October based on which a case was registered and during the course of the investigation.

The four accused were identified and arrested from Visakhapatnam.