Mumbai bogus forex trade racket: Ten accused earned more than a crore per month, says police

The Mumbai crime branch arrested 10 men on July 27 in connection with a bogus foreign exchange fraud. They had duped 500 people of ₹6.36 crore.

Investigations into an illegal foreign exchange racket have found that the ten arrested accused used to earn more than a crore every month by duping people.

Police said the accused had been running a fake call centre in a Dadar (East) hotel for a year . (Representational Image) (AFP File)

The Mumbai crime branch learnt this after scrutinising the bank accounts of those arrested in connection with the case on July 27, along with the accounts of their company, CapitalTrade.com, located opposite Pritam Dhabha in Dadar (East).

The police had raided the office after they found that the men duped 500 people of ₹6.36 crore. Fifty-three worked at the call centre run by the masterminds — who are three brothers — Tanveer Tahirali Shaikh, Asad Tahirali Shaikh and Shahrukh Tahirali Shaikh.

Tanveer was a share broker before he created the website — moneytrading.com — which promised huge profits on foreign exchange trade. Initially, he ran a small office in Wadala with his two brothers.

In the past two years, Tanveer has duped thousands of people from Kolkata, Punjab, Delhi, Gujarat and Maharashtra. “ ₹3.65 crore has been seized while scrutinising the two bank accounts of the company. Nearly ₹2 crore was found in the bank accounts of five merchants,” said inspector Sanjay Nikumbhe.

Further investigations revealed that the accused used to spend ₹20 lakh every month, which included the salaries of the 53 employees, office rent and other expenses. Each employee was paid a minimum of ₹15,000 and the accused occupied the second floor of the building which was rented for ₹2 lakh every month, said Nikumbhe.

The accused kept a low profile to avoid raising suspicions regarding their business, said inspector Jagdish Sail.

MODUS OPERANDI

◼ Ads to invest in forex trade would pop up on websites. People had to register with their mobile numbers
◼ The accused would call up the interested customers through voice over internet protocol or (VoIP) and make offers. Customers would be asked to deposit money through ‘Pay U’ app. The minimum investment amount was USD 100. Five merchants would transfer the ‘investments’ into own accounts
◼ The accused: Tanveer Tahirali Shaikh, Asad, Shahrukh, Vyankatchalam Mariappa, Fayyaj Umar Shaikh, Sanjay Kapoor Vaishnav, Parvez Maqbool Khan, Mohammad Jafar Shaikh, Imran Maqbool Khan, Azahruddin Daudali Shaikh.

Around 30 victims have approached the police in the past five days after Tanveer, along with nine others, including his brothers, five merchants —Vyankatchalam, Fayyaz, Sanjay, Parvez, Mohammad Zafar — accounts manager Imran and call observer Azaruddin were arrested.

The eleventh accused, David Nadar, who was part of the marketing team and trained employees on how they should talk and convince customers on the phone, was arrested on July 28, said an officer.