Lookout Circular Against Md Saif, Who Duped Investors In Odisha Through Ponzi Scheme Betting App

Bhubaneswar: Bureau of Immigration has issued a lookout circular against Md Saif of Shaheen Bagh, Delhi, on the request of Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Bhubaneswar, in connection with a Ponzi scheme which he operated from Dubai, sources said on Thursday.

The complain was lodged by some of the 800 investors allegedly duped by the accused in Odisha’s Ganjam district. They were lured into investing in 18football.com, a hybrid model of fraud where Ponzi scheme is run online giving a name of football betting/ gaming app, with a promise of 3% daily compound return on investment, recharge bonus, referral bonus, extra bonus on the earning of the downline members, salary bonus and daily withdrawal option, an EOW release said.

The investors had to create an account with “18football.com” either by application or through offline referral link, and they were asked to bet money in some football matches as prescribed in website/app. They were provided with “mentor” to assist them in betting. These mentors used to communicate through telegram or apps only.

There were extra bonus/ commission for introducing/recruiting new members, it said.

To allure investor from across the country, the fraudsters took up promotional activities like social works and charity in the rural areas to make people believe that it was a bonafide organisation.

“The fraudsters initially paid the promised return to the investors. When the membership increased, they stopped making any payment and closed the app. They used multiple shell companies/firms to route the ill-gotten money. They also used mule accounts for multi-layering of money transaction to confuse the law enforcement agencies. One of the companies was Kolkata based Hakim & Rustam Fabrics Pvt Ltd, whose two directors were arrested earlier. They had confessed to have got small amount of commission to run this shell company and received orders from Md Sheikh Saif from Dubai,” the release added.

Anyone giving credible information on phone no 8249600495, leading to the arrest of the accused, will be suitably awarded, the agency said, adding that name/details of the informer will be kept secret.