Ponzi Scheme Via Gaming App: Odisha EOW Nabs Another Shell Company Director, Traces Rs 525 Cr

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Bhubaneswar, has arrested Dileep Kumar P, director of a Kerala-based Shell company, from Thrissur, Kerala, in connection with an online Ponzi scam involving ‘18football.com’.

According to an EOW release, he is the director of Priwest Global Solution Pvt Ltd, which channelized the ill-gotten money of this scam. Around Rs 19.49 crore routed using this company has been traced. Dileep is also founder-cum-managing trustee of Coimbatore-based Omana Foundation Charitable Trust, which was also used to channelize the crime proceeds of this scam. “4000 to 5000 illegal transactions were done in the bank accounts of the company and the trust,” it said.

He is being brought to Odisha on 6-day transit remand and will be produced in a court in Berhampur.

A  look-out circular was earlier issued against Dubai-based operator/promoter of this scam, Md Saif. Two directors of a shell company Hakim & Rustam Fabrics Pvt Ltd were arrested from Kolkata and one director of a shell company Edudaddy Institute of Advance Studies Pvt Ltd was nabbed from Udaipur, Rajasthan, after over some people of Ganjam district in Odisha lodged a complaint after losing money in  18football.com, a hybrid model of fraud where Ponzi scheme (multilevel marketing) is run online under the garb of football betting/gaming app.

“It is a huge international scam running online from a website which has been registered in Hongkong (China) and also operated from Dubai. Investors are promised of giving lucrative benefits like 3% daily compound return on investment, recharge bonus, referral bonus, extra bonus on the earning of the down- line members, salary bonus and daily withdrawal option,” the release further said.

The investors had to create an account with 18football.com either by application or through offline referral link, and were being asked to bet money in some football matches as prescribed in website/app. They were also provided with the so-called foreigner “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 promote and allure the innocent public, the fraudsters also did social works and charity in the rural areas. The fraudsters initially paid the promised return but as membership increased, they stopped making any payment and closed the app.

“The scammers used multiple shell companies/firms and their directors to route the ill-gotten money. They also used mule accounts for multilayering of money transaction to confuse the law enforcement agencies. However they used to get the order/direction from Md Sheikh Saif from Dubai. The fraud by 18football.com has got all India ramifications, and the fraud amount involved is suspected to be more than Rs 1000 crore of which EOW has been able to trace transaction of approximately Rs. 525 crore till now,” it added.