As per the report by the Indian Express on August 8, Indian authorities have arrested the criminals in a multi-million dollar cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme where the perpetrators claimed to be a part of Solar Techno Alliance (STA), an alleged blockchain-based company focusing on solar technology with a crypto token.
About Rs 1000 crore ($120 million) were scammed in the con, and over 200,000 victims from different regions of India fell for the promise of significant returns made by the Ponzi scheme.
Gurtej Singh Sidhu, the mastermind of this Ponzi scam, and his associate Nirod Das were arrested by the Economic Offence Wing of the Odisha police for the operation of the STA Token Ponzi scheme.
Jai Narayan Pankaj, Inspector-General of the Economic Offense Wing (EOW), said, “We were chasing the accused for the past few days as he was frequently changing his location in places like Goa, Lonavala, Mumbai, Delhi, Faridkot, Bhatinda, Hanumangadh and Sri Ganganagar.”
The discovery of transactions amounting to more than Rs 30 crore (300 million rupees or $3.6 million) in Nirod Das’s bank account is a significant development in the investigation.
The Police added that using multi-level marketing (MLM), strategies is another characteristic often seen in Ponzi schemes. These strategies involve recruiting new participants, who then recruit more participants, creating a pyramid-like structure.
Also Read: Indian SC Slams Union Government Over Delay in Crypto Laws
