Fraud Mastermind Who Duped Over 500 Investors Held In Odisha’s Sambalpur

Sambalpur: In a major crackdown on financial fraud, a man was apprehended by the police in Odisha’s Sambalpur for allegedly defrauding a large number of investors by offering high returns on their deposits.

The accused, identified as Santosh Acharya, was reportedly nabbed from Kuluthkani area under the jurisdiction of Dhanupali police station of Sambalpur.

He was stated to have acted as the mastermind in orchestrating the collection of funds through a network spread across different regions, sources said. The fraudulent operation took place by using the name of MCX.

The accused allegedly duped more than 500 investors of crores of rupees in Sambalpur district alone through his investment scheme.

It was claimed that that investors depositing Rs 10 lakh were promised an interest of 5 per cent while those investing Rs 20 lakh were assured 7 per cent. The accused had lured investors with 8 per cent interest on deposit of Rs one crore.

The alleged fraud scheme, with threads extending beyond national borders, came to the fore when investors found that the company had stopped operations in 2024.

Further investigation is underway to ascertain the international connections of the scheme floated by the accused.