How Torres scammed its investors

Torres Jewellery scam defrauded 1.25 lakh investors with fake schemes, leaving many low-income individuals seeking justice as police investigate.

The Torres Jewellery scam, launched in February 2024, was an elaborate fraud aimed at a certain economic bracket. The company, which had six stores in and around Mumbai, had never intended to operate as an actual jewellery chain. Using what has turned out to be imitation jewellery, it floated schemes that promised unbelievable returns on jewellery purchased, handsome rewards for referrals in a Ponzi scheme, and tried to instill confidence through bumper lucky draws that handed out cars and expensive cell phones.

How Torres scammed its investors

Building up to the Christmas and New Year festive season of 2024, Torres kept raising the payout margins on its lavish investment schemes, from 6% to 13%, and even launched new schemes, encouraging more and more investments. Then it abruptly shut shop. Torres has thus defrauded an estimated 1.25 lakh investors. Most of them are people of very modest means.

As soon as the scam broke, news spread quickly and investors started assembling outside many of its showrooms. On Tuesday, around 500 investors gathered outside the Shivaji park police station, still hoping to recover at least some of their money. Many had roped in a dozen or more friends, colleagues and family members into the schemes, and had nowhere else to turn.

Police had placed makeshift tables to attend to the sea of investors, who were busy filling out application forms, providing details that would help with the investigation. A few were waving printouts at the police, urging them to arrest the three individuals whose names and pictures had been published on the Torres Jewellery website by the store’s promoters. This was a ploy by the promoters to exonerate themselves. Police were trying to explain this to the defrauded investors but were making little headway.

Shivaji Park police said they are still gathering information and will record statements of the investors soon.