Two Fraudsters Nabbed For Rs 15 Crore Crypto-Ponzi Scam In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Crime Branch has arrested two persons in connection with an Rs 15 crore cryptocurrency fraud.

The accused have been identified as Ved Prakash and Sudhir Patel. While Ved Prakash was nabbed from Rajasthan’s Anupgarh on April 10, Patel was apprehended from Sundargarh on April 14. Several incriminating documents were also seized from them, an EOW release said.

According to the probe agency, they were arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by Pram Sagar Khamari, alleging that the duo duped several investors like him, mostly in western Odisha, of more than Rs 14 crore on the pretext of investing in cryptocurrency through the agencies like ENG Crypto, Entice Capital, USDT Club, ADS Exchange, CRIT 11, for hefty returns.

While the complainant was lured by the accused to invest Rs 48,02,200, he received a meagre return of Rs 20,000.

In 2022, the arrested in connivance with others carried out extensive promotional activities in different parts of Odisha by organising meetings, promising high returns and even double of the invested amount within a very short period. They also induce the investors to bring in more people for extra benefits. “To attract investors, they used false documents like brochure and schemes, promising high rate of interest proportionately to the quantum of investment. They paid very small amounts as returns during the initial few month to win their confidence and absconded after collecting crores of rupees.

“In reality, the fraudsters were running illegal Ponzi scheme and the up-line members were being paid the promised returns from the amount collected from the downline members. They collected deposits either through the bank account or by cash.”

The investigation further revealed that they targeted “not so educated” persons lacking computer knowledge. “They were taking advantage of the computer illiteracy of the investors and asking them to transfer the money directly to the accounts managed/run by them.”

The fraudsters had cheated around 500 investors of more than Rs 15 crore in Puri, Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh and Bargarh districts of Odisha. Investors in Maharashtra too fell victim to their fraud plans. “However the amount cheated in Maharashtra is not known yet. EOW Odisha will write/alert the Maharashtra Police about this scam and scammers.”

Ved Prakash, a Plus II dropout, worked as constable in Rajasthan Police but was removed after 5 years of service for misconduct and dereliction of duty. He duped people by identifying himself as the country head of the crypto investment and Patel as the Odisha head. “Both the accused went into hiding after registration of the case but were subsequently nabbed by EOW which had been tracking their movement,” the release said.

The other victims have been asked to approach EOW Odisha on the given toll free number 18003457103, it added.