More than 300 complaints have been received from across Himachal Pradesh in connection with a multi-crore cryptocurrency ponzi scam, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri said, referring to the fraud that began in the state in 2018.
He had presided over a meeting on Friday to review the action being taken against the perpetrators, who cheated people by promising them high profits on investments within a short span of time, an official statement said.
People should guard themselves from falling prey to such ponzi schemes and cryptocurrency frauds, Agnihotri said.
“I am observing that complaints have been pouring in from various districts of the state wherein people have been cheated by the kingpin of the cryptocurrency fraud,” he said, according to the statement issued on Saturday.
He added that more than 300 complaints have been received by the police till date.
Ten culprits from Mandi and two from Una have been arrested so far in connection with the case, Agnihotri said. Subhash Sharma, the kingpin, from Sarkaghat in Mandi district, is still at large and he will be apprehended soon, he said.
The deputy chief minister appealed to people not to invest in the unregulated cryptocurrency market as lack of regulation exposes them to frauds, market manipulations and security breaches.
The perpetrators from the state’s Mandi district created a local cryptocurrency and duped thousands of people of hundreds of crores of rupees. The scam began in 2018, the statement said.
“I am pained to learn that (even some) people, who had received compensation from the four-lane and national highway projects, parted with huge amounts of their money to make quick profits,” Agnihotri said.
Director General of Police (DGP) Sanjay Kundu said that the website used for the crypto-scam had around 2.5 lakh different IDs. There were 70 to 80 imposters, who earned more than Rs 2 crore from nearly one lakh investors, he said.
He added that police have so far seized properties worth Rs 8.5 crore at various places in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab’s Zirakpur.
“We are working with the Punjab Police, and the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has also assured of every possible assistance,” the DGP said and added that action was being taken against the criminals under the Banning of Unregulated Deposits Schemes (BUDS) Act, 2019.
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