City Limouzine Investment finance fraud

 NAGPUR: An offence has been registered against three people for allegedly duping people of more than Rs 65 lakh in a ponzi scheme in Maharashtra's Nagpur city, police said on Sunday. The accused had allegedly collected Rs 65.82 lakh from several residents of Tajbag and Hasanbag areas of the city between December 2022 and January this year, an official said.

They promised to double the invested amount every month and had initially extended some benefits to a few persons but later started defaulting, he said.

Based on a complaint, a case under sections 420 (cheating) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against the trio, the official added.

 Bhubaneswar: The economic offences wing (EOW) of the state Crime Branch on Friday arrested a man from Balasore for allegedly cheating people across the country, including in Odisha, by offering high interests on their deposits.

The accused was identified as Nilesh Kumar Kar.

EOW said Kar is a small fish and part of a bigger gang that lured people through its dubious mobile application. Kar was the district head of the company in Balasore from where more than 200 people invested in the company.

Mahamanya Jena, a resident of Sahadevkhunta area in Balasore, lodged a complaint with the EOW on March 5 alleging that the company cheated him of nearly Rs 2 lakh.

As per his complaint, he came in contact with the company via Instagram and invested Rs 2.13 lakh between January and March this year. Jena was assured a staggering Rs 50.57 lakh return on March 31. He realised about the fraud only after finding the mobile application shut, sources said.

“We found that the company lured over 80,000 people across the country. The amount of fraud would run into crores. The gang fraudulently claimed to be a US-based crypto mining company authorised by the RBI.

We are trying to arrest other members of the gang,” said EOW’s inspector general J N Pankaj.

 MUMBAI: A two-BHK flat worth Rs 2 crore on Goregaon-Mulund Link Road belonging to an autorickshaw driver, who was arrested by Bhandup police for allegedly cheating people in a Ponzi scheme, has been attached under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act (SARFAESI) after he defaulted on a bank loan.

The court commissioner on Monday seized the flat.

Punjab National Bank had filed a complaint that Haroon Sattar Shaikh, his wife Nilofar Shaikh and Halima Shaikh had taken a home loan of Rs 1.8 crore from the bank in 2019.

"The borrowers have committed default in repayment of the financial assistance as agreed and their account has been classified as non-performing asset (NPA) in 2020. Advocate Sunil Pandey is appointed as court commissioner to take over possession of the aforesaid secured asset," said M R A Shaikh, additional chief metropolitan magistrate Esplanade.

The court also directed payment of Rs 10,000 to the court commissioner as fee and police as well as police protection.

The magistrate also noted that it was difficult to understand that the borrower was an autorickshaw driver then how did the bank grant him such a huge loan.

The order also mentioned that the security guard and manager of the housing society said the outstanding maintenance amount is Rs 6.8 lakh till date for the flat.

 KOLKATA: Enforcement Directorate officials on Wednesday conducted raids at several places in connection with two Ponzi firms — Pincon Group and Tower Group. ED officers also searched the residence and office of the lawyer who represented the two companies.

The raids began at 7am. Incidentally, teams of Kolkata Police from Alipore Police Station soon reached the spots in south Kolkata where the raids were on. A Rapid Action Force unit was also present. By 5pm, another group of CRPF jawans arrived.

In 2017, Jaipur Police arrested Pincon Group owner Manoranjan Roy. In the same year, the ministry of corporate affairs prepared a list of 331 “suspected shell companies” and Pincon Group’s name figured among them.

The company had allegedly collected Rs 900 crore from investors by promising high returns. In 2018, Pincon Group was banned by the Securities and Exchange Board of India from raising money illegally from the market.

At Palpara in Howrah’s Jagacha, a residential premise of Ramendu Chattopadhyay, who headed the Tower Group, was also raided by ED.

 BHUBANESWAR: The economic offences wing (EOW) of the state crime branch unearthed a scam worth Rs 144 crore by a company that had been illegally operating ponzi business in the guise of crypto trading in Odisha and in other states and arrested a key accused from Pune on Sunday.

The accused was identified as Vishal Sakharam Utkar, a resident of Latur in Maharashtra. Acting on a tip-off, the EOW sleuths arrested him from Mundwa area in Pune.

Utkar is a part of a bigger gang which lured thousands of people in Odisha and outside into investing in crypto mining. The gang created a mobile application, named Getso, and fraudulently claimed to have its headquarters in Washington, USA.

The company offered 6% returns daily on the invested money and a daily withdrawal facility.

It sent bulk messages to people via WhatsApp and Instagram and lured them to invest money in crypto mining and get hefty returns overnight. “Many people fell into the trap and lost their money,” EOW’s inspector general of police J N Pankaj said.

The EOW recently received a complaint from one of the victims here and learnt that the company allegedly duped thousands of investors across the country of Rs 144 crore.

 NEW DELHI: Six men, including a postman, who allegedly cheated people on the pretext of ensuring high returns on investments and getting back their money stuck in lapsed insurance policies were arrested, police said on Tuesday.

The gang was operating from Begusarai in Bihar and a financial analysis shows that transactions of over Rs 40 crore were done through 35 bank accounts and more than 100 people have been duped, PTI quoted a senior police officer as saying.

Investigation was initiated following a complaint from a man that some unknown people cheated him of Rs 2.8 crore in the last seven to eight years on the promise of getting back his money stuck in an insurance policy, police said.

Later, police found that two more people had been cheated of Rs 1 crore by the gang, the officer said and added that the it was operating since 2018.

They also used to promise high returns on investments and collect initial amounts from people, the officer said.

Birender Kumar Das (33), Raushan Kumar (38), Dinesh Kumar (44), Bablu Malakar (51), Pawan Kumar (33) and Mithilesh Kumar (26), all residents of Begusarai, have been arrested, police said.

Das was employed with the postal department in the Bihar town.

Through technical analysis, the accused were found to be operating from Begusarai, deputy commissioner of police (Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations) Prashant Gautam said.

On January 10, four people were arrested, while on February 27, Pawan Kumar, who used to provide bank accounts to the main accused in the case Shyam Sundar, was apprehended, he said.

Later, Mithilesh Kumar was arrested from Kaushambi in Uttar Pradesh, Gautam said, adding that during raids in Begusarai, police found that he was running a customer service point centre for a bank.

Police said at his instance, 1,091 ATM cards, 22 instant debit cards, 56 blank passbooks were seized. He was using these ATM cards to withdraw money that had been deposited by people, they said.

With PTI inputs

 MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized Rs 18.5 crore, in the form of cash and bank balance, of Pune-based VIPS Group of Companies associated with Dubai-based entrepreneur-investor Vinod Khute for Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema) violations.

Khute is allegedly engaged in illegal Ponzi scheme, crypto exchange and wallet services.

ED investigation has showed that VIPS Group collected Rs 125 crore investment through banking channels apart from cash from investors by promising high returns. This money was then moved out of the country through hawala channels and various shell companies.

The probing agency in a press release said that Global Affiliate Business, one of the companies run by Khute, has been running an illegal multi-level marketing scheme wherein it offers a commission to its members if they refer other consumers/ members.

The ED, during investigation, also found that Global Affiliate Business was also marketing the business of Kana Capital which was engaged in brokerage under which various clients trade forex, crypto and stocks.

The central agency further stated that funds to the tune of Rs 125 crore were collected using this modus.

TOI tried to contact the group on the number provided on its website, but no one responded.

 The Directorate of Economic Offences (DEO), the investigation wing of the West Bengal finance department, has claimed to have unearthed a Ponzi racket in the state involving a financial embezzlement of around Rs 2,000 crore.

A state financial official said that from Sunday afternoon till late night, the sleuths of the DEO conducted a marathon raid and search operations at the residence of a Kolkata- based businessman, Amarnath Shroff at Harish Mukherjee Road in south Kolkata.

"Another Kolkata-based businessman, Shanti Surana was arrested recently from his residence at Ballygunge also in south Kolkata. Initially, it was perceived that Surana was the one and only brain behind the Ponzi racket. However, during interrogation he admitted that he had a partner in the business, named Amarnath Shroff. Accordingly, raid and search operations were conducted at his residence," the official said.

It is learnt, Shroff, also a real estate promoter along with Surana had allured a number of persons to invest in real estate promotional schemes against promises of hefty returns. State finance department sources said that the target of the duo were mainly the moneyed aged persons with their children staying away from them.

"In this process they raised about Rs 25 lakhs to Rs 3 crore on an average. We have traced one such individual who invested over Rs 10 crore in this Ponzi business. The total funds accumulated by the duo was to the tune of around Rs 2,000 crore," a state finance department official.

It is learnt that in the marathon raid and search operations from Sunday afternoon till late night, the DEO officials seized several incriminating documents related to the Ponzi business. "Our investigating officials suspect that some more people might be involved in this menace and they are trying to track them through examination of the documents," the state finance department official said.

 MUMBAI: Venture capital investment is often like a Ponzi scheme, Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy said at the Nasscom Technology & Leadership Forum (NTLF) on Thursday. "I'm in Series B, I go to Series C, where I sell my shares to others at a profit, but it's the Series Z fellow who is left carrying a tin box," he said.

He said he's not a critique of the younger people (the startup founders), but the older people - the VCs who propounded the theory that what is important is only the topline and not the bottomline. "Mature VCs, boards of directors and advisors have to be open and honest in saying things as it is,” Murthy said, with reference to the severe funding squeeze on startups and the layoffs the sector is witnessing. Murthy was in conversation with Snapdeal founder Kunal Bahl.

Murthy returned to the Nasscom stage after a decade to a rousing reception from the audience.

Murthy said he believes in deferred gratification, a philosophy Infosys embraced. “VCs who provide money to entrepreneurs, boards of directors have to tell the youngsters to accept deferred gratification, to realise that sacrifice in the short and medium terms will give them a much greater return in the long run.”

He said Infosys co-founders flew economy class even internationally till it touched $1 billion in revenue and about $251 million of net income after tax.

“Some of the external directors said you're carrying it too far and you guys are getting older," he said.

Murthy said he believes the price to earnings ratio (P/E) and growth rates should be equal. P/E ratio is the ratio of a company's share price to the company's earnings per share. “If you grow at the rate of 20%, then your P/E should be 20. I belong to the old school of thought; the savants and wise men and women of the VC industry should think about this issue and they are much smarter than I’m,” he said.

Asked about the challenges in the current environment and how the IT industry should respond to it, Murthy said business is all about cycles. “The reality is most Indian software companies are growing very well. And when there is a downturn in the industry, there will be a focus on better value for money. When there is a downturn in the developed world, the prospects for Indian software companies will be better.”

 AHMEDABAD: A team of CID (crime) on Friday caught Vinay Shah — an accused in Rs 260 crore ponzi scheme fraud — from Delhi, said officers on Saturday.

According to an official statement released by the CID (crime), the cops got an input that Shah, a resident of Paldi who allegedly cheated thousands of people in the garb of doubling their investment, was landing at Delhi airport.

Acting on the input, the cops reached there, caught Shah and brought him to Ahmedabad.

His scam surfaced when the first FIR was filed on November 12, 2018 with Vastrapur police of the city accusing Shah and his wife Bhargavi of fraud by making false promises to double money invested in their firm, Archercare, a multi-level marketing business based in Thaltej.

Later, two more FIRs were filed with Vastrapur police and one each was lodged with CID (crime) of Ahmedabad zone and Nikol police for cheating and breach of trust along with charges of Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978.

A note written by Shah had also then gone viral on social media, in which he accused a senior police officer and certain individuals of blackmailing him and extorting money in exchange for covering up the alleged scam.

More than 250 people had invested money ranging from Rs 4,500 to Rs 1 lakh with the Shahs and were allegedly cheated by the couple. The total value of the scam could breach the Rs 260-crore mark.

After charges of cheating levelled against him, he fled from the country and was first caught in Pokhra of Nepal by a Nepalese security agency.

Shah was caught with a female friend and cops seized foreign currencies worth Rs 43 lakh.

After CID (crime) took over the investigation, his bank accounts in Gujarat were seized, said a police officer.