Two people have been arrested in Maharashtra, a western state in India, for allegedly defrauding over 1,400 investors out of $6 million to $12 million. After searches in Thane and Powai, two areas in the greater Mumbai area, the Thane Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) made the arrests on August 10.
An EOW investigator investigating the case reports that police have detained Ritesh Dilip Kumar Sikligar, also known as Pancha, and Mohan Patil, who recruited clients all over the country for the program. A tentative interrogation was scheduled for August 20 between Kumar and Patil, the suspected masterminds. Both of them have been incarcerated since then.
Indian police arrested Ritesh Dilip Kumar Sikligar, alias Pancha, and Mohan Patil, an agent who lured around customers from around the country into a $12M crypto scam report says#india #cryptoinvesting #sellingcontent #ScamAlert #Scammers
— CryptoCompass (@CryptoCompassUS) September 6, 2022
During court proceedings, we estimated that the fraud was worth 6 crores ($750,000), but now we estimate that it is over 50 crores and below 100 crores.” the official said. Among the roughly 1,400 investors, the amounts assigned to them differ a bit.
How Were the Victims Duped?
In order to entice investors, the plan promised enormous returns. There was no exchange listing for SMP or Magic 3x, which were the names of the cryptocurrency coins. Their returns increased as the investment increased. Twenty-four investors have reported losses totaling 4.4 million rupees. According to the investigating officer, police anticipate more people will come forward as they come forward.
In order to entice investors, the plan promised enormous returns. The rate of return increased with the amount they invested. SMP and Magic 3x were the cryptocurrencies’ names. These weren’t offered for sale on any exchange.
Consumers were offered interest rates of up to 1% every day depending on how much they invested by the thieves, according to a police officer. According to the advertisement, 24,000 rupees would quadruple in twenty months if invested each day with a daily return rate of 0.05%.
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