E-Paper
Busted ponzi scheme that cheated people of over ₹1,000 crore: Odisha police
Odisha police IGP Jai Narayan Pankaj said the cryptocurrency-based ponzi scheme had over 200,000 members across the country including 10,000 in Odisha
The Odisha police on Monday said it has busted a cryptocurrency-based ponzi scheme in which more than 2 lakh people have been cheated of over ₹1,000 crore.
The state police’s Economic Offence Wing (EOW) arrested 40-year-old Gurtej Singh Sidhu from Rajasthan who heads the STA (Solar Techno Alliance) Crypto Token.
The scheme was launched in 2021 and its subscribers were told that they could earn between $20-$3000 per day.
EOW inspector general of police Jai Narayan Pankaj said like any other multi level marketing scheme, members initially got some monetary benefits which tempted them to add more members.
“Transactions (credit and debit) of more than ₹30 crore WERE noticed in the bank account of Nirod Das, Odisha head of STA. STA used the socially popular terms like green energy, solar technology to mask its crypto-ponzi scam,” the senior police officer said.
“STA conducted several publicity programs at various places to spread its membership. They used fancy hotels, motivational speakers, music, lunch/dinner etc. in such meetings to brainwash future members. They also run several YouTube channels for publicity… Last week, STA had a grand celebration in a luxury hotel in Goa in which filmstar Govinda was the chief guest. Govinda also released some video promoting/endorsing STA,” said the IG.
The officer said the EOW received inputs about the ponzi scheme from across the state including Bhadrak, Balasore, Bhubaneswar, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Kendrapada and Keonjhar districts.
EOW estimates the ponzi scheme has more than 200,000 members in several states including more than 10,000 people from Odisha. The STA website was hosted from Iceland.
