Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Odisha Police has further frozen around Rs.75 lakh of 14 different bank accounts across the country in a crackdown against the multiple online Ponzi (MLM Schemes).
Earlier the EOW had frozen Rs.1.22 Crore in similar schemes/ Apps. There are multiple illegal Apps and websites available on the internet which misleads people by running advertisements to multiply money within a few days/ months but after few months these Apps close their operation/ Websites/ Apps.
These bank accounts were linked to Apps like Dice, Quickwrummy, Fly Aviator, Weonlinepro Three, MVP trader, Ft11, UNO, ForexDana, Live 22 Cash, Aviator X, City5, Homer Alexander etc. Together these Apps had 1.56 Crore + downloads. This refers to an EOW case registered this year.
In the fresh cases, it was found that these scammers are using morphed photographs of big celebrities and social media influencers. They also use the logo of big company like Tata to mislead/ impress people on various social media platform like instagram, YouTube etc, the EOW said.
Earlier it was found that an App “Join trade- Financial growth” was using the morphed Pictures of leading Bollywood actors like Akshay Kumar and Manish Paul, in order to mislead and instill trust in the Public. It was also found that there are some so called social media influencers who use their accounts to promote these Apps/ scheme. Some TV stars/ small celebrities were found to be endorsing such social media influencers and their advice related to making quick money through these Online Ponzi Apps.
Most of the victims are from lower middle class including many students wishing to become rich in a very short span of time using these shortcuts. It came to surface that the amount can only be deposited through UPI’ID’s reflected in the APP which keeps changing constantly each minute and such ID’s were linked to savings Bank and current accounts maintained in the name of many shell companies / firms and individual persons.
The total transactions in the above suspected bank accounts are of more than 1000 Crores. However it is suspected that these accounts/ networking are also used in other cyber/financial crimes related to Online Ponzi Schemes, Illegal digital Loan Apps, Courier Scam, Sextortion, Work from home scam, YouTube liking scam, Rating scam etc.
It has been noticed that these money are routed through very complex multi layering of various mule accounts and finally money is transferred out of India using Crypto trade. Most of these scams are operated from or have links in Dubai, UAE.
Public Advisory
1. Please don’t use these illegal earning Apps/ scheme. These Apps are created and operated by Cyber-Financial scammers. Even if you initially get some money back ultimately you will lose huge money.
2. Please do not refer/ forward the links to your friend/ relatives. You might get some referral bonus but in the end, both you and your friends will lose huge amount of money.
3. It is quite possible that this money is being used in other cyber-crime and anti-national activities. Please stay away from such Apps/ schemes.
4. Never ever allow your bank accounts to be used/ controlled by others.
Advisory to Social media influencers
Don’t promote such illegal earning Apps/ schemes directly or indirectly.
Advisory to Celebrities
Don’t use your influence to promote such Apps/ schemes by recommending people to such social media influencers who promotes these illegal Apps/ schemes.
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