Rs 50-crore racket run by Chinese busted, 3 Indians held

Acting on a complaint by a depositor, a case was registered and the Indians were arrested in Haryana and Delhi, the police said. One of the Chinese nationals left India and did not return while the other had never come to India. They, along with the trio, launched an app and started cheating people.

Hyderabad: An online racket involving two Chinese nationals was busted with the arrest of three Indians who allegedly duped around 20,000 people across the country to the tune of Rs 50 crores by offering huge returns on investments, police said on Monday.

The trio, along with the absconding Chinese, was accused of enticing the public by offering 4.5 times returns on deposits in 90 days, Cyberabad Commissioner of PoliceV C Sajjanar said.

Acting on a complaint by a depositor, a case was registered and the Indians were arrested in Haryana and Delhi, the police said. One of the Chinese nationals left India and did not return while the other had never come to India. They, along with the trio, launched an app and started cheating people, according to police.

Explaining the modus operandi, police said the accused through different WhatsApp Admins across the country shared the information about the app inviting investments/deposits in their three schemes assuring 4.5 times returns on the deposits in 90 days.

The gullible depositors, having got attracted towards the schemes, shared their personal and bank details through a link received on their registered phone number, the police said. Subsequently, the app was shut down, they said.

Investigation revealed that the money/deposits paid by the depositors were credited to the bank accounts of fraudulent Indian companies registered with a payment gateway through various Chinese websites, they said.