Thousands of investors in India rush to recover nearly $ 100 million after being caught in a Ponzi program which duped them to make short -term investments promising high yields, according to a police press release and several victims Reuters spoken at.
Indian police arrested two individuals on Saturday after a case was deposited against the invoicing of Falcon, which promised yields up to 22% by pretending to connect the depositors with Amazon (amzn.o), opens a new tab and the Britannia cookie manufacturer
Falcon has raised 17 billion rupees (around 196 million dollars) from nearly 7,000 investors since 2021, but has only reimbursed half, according to a press release from the South State of Telangana.
Ankit Bihani, a jeweler based in New Delhi, met 50 other investors last week to discuss measures, including legal appeals, to recover the 500 million collective rupees they said they lost.
“Most of them (investors) have learned to know the investment platform via social media and have invested in it,” said Bihani Reuters.
Falcon used new investors money to pay the oldest and diverted the remaining funds to various Shell entities, police said. The authorities are looking for Amardeep Kumar, founder of Falcon and the main accused, said a source.
However, some of the victims who have spoken wondered if they will recover money – entire life savings, in some cases – they have entrusted to Falcon.
“This is my harshly won money. We don’t know when and how are we going to recover it,” said Roopesh Chauhan, an employee of technology who has lost 15 million rupees.
S SMRITI, assistant professor, contacted the police after losing more than 3 million rupees.
“The money was all our savings,” said Smriti.
Indian authorities have expressed concerns about a recent increase in complaints from people dupped by phony investment diets based on fraudulent applications, websites and call centers to deceive without distrust investors.
Britannia, Amazon and Falcon did not respond to requests for comments from Reuters sent on Monday. (1 $ = 86,8550 Indian rupees)