On Monday, the Odisha police busted a massively large crypto Ponzi scam worth Rs. 1,000 crore ($120.6 million). The police have also arrested some of the masterminds who were behind this scheme that has fooled hundreds of investors.
According to local media reports, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Police, revealed the details related to multi-million dollar crypto Ponzi scam. Reportedly, the police have arrested Gurtej Singh Sidhu, aged 40 and alleged Indian head of ‘STA Crypto token’, a Ponzi firm from Sri-Ganganagar, Rajasthan.
Solar Techno Alliance (STA) was launched in September 2021 self proclaimed to be a “one-stop Solar Technologies service that enables users to order anything they like from the nearest farmers in the shortest amount of time using blockchain technology.”
However, during the investigation, it was revealed that STA is not authorized by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) or any other authorities to collect deposits. It runs a huge Ponzi scheme in the garb of crypto tokens where it uses socially popular terms like green energy, solar technology, etc, to mask its crypto ponzi scam.
In their official statement, the EOW revealed that Gurtej is a native of Faridkot, Punjab. He was produced before a court in Sri Ganganagar where the judicial body granted seven days of transit remand. He was brought to Odisha on Monday and will be produced before a court in Cuttack.
According to the police, Sidhu was frequently changing his location in Goa, Lonavala, Mumbai, Delhi, Faridkot, Bhatinda, Hanumangadh and Sri Ganganagar. To tackle this, the EOW team led by DSP Sasmita Sahoo continuously tracked his location before arresting him.
Additionally, the EOW arrested Nirod Das of Bhadrak who is the Odisha head of STA. Earlier the EOW had registered a case in this regard
Sources reveal a police enquiry was conducted after getting intelligence from various sources that a cryptocurrency-based ponzi scam is being run in Odisha, especially in Bhadrak, Balasore, Bhubaneswar, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Keonjhar districts.
During the police investigation, it was found that STA through some top class members is very active in the above stated Indian districts. They have been using various propaganda tools to persuade people to join in this scheme and earn lucrative returns in a very short time. The statement read:
Members are promised that they will earn $20 (roughly Rs. 1,656) to $3000 (roughly Rs. 2.48 lakh) per day if they join this scheme and add more members under them.
Furthermore, the police stated that members have started using the STA token as a legal tender in their day-to-day business. As per statistics, it is estimated that more than 10,000 people from Odisha have already been members of this scheme. Overall, a total of more than two lakh members (pan India) mainly in states like Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Assam.
Reportedly, the STA’s website is hosted from Iceland but its business activity is limited to India. It is headed by someone named as David Gez who is reported as a young Hungarian national who has visited India multiple times whereas Gurtej Singh Sidhu heads the India operation. The EOW said that both David Gez and Gurtej Sidhu have traveled to many places in India including Odisha and have attended various STA programmes.
The crypto scams have been on an incessant increase coming out as a nightmare for regulators as well as investors across the globe. Countries across the globe are adopting various innovative practices to minimize the threats and exposure to these scams which have drained people’s lifelong savings in a flash of seconds.
To tackle these issues, countries are also adopting strict policies for compliance and potentially highlighting any loopholes in the system. It is important to note that as the industry matures, so will the malicious actors intent to use it for benefits. Hence, the authorities need to act in the matter before it’s too late.