The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Crime Branch has frozen around Rs 75 lakh in 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 ponzi schemes and 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. These Apps had 1.56 Crore + downloads together.
The scamters are using photographs of celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata, Sachin Tendulkar and Technical Guruji ( famous You Tuber) in the fresh case. The scammers also used the logo of big companies like Tata to mislead or impress people on various social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube.
Some so called social media influencers also used 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.
Earlier, it had been 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 in still trust in the public
The total transactions in the above suspected bank accounts are of more than Rs 1,000 crore. 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 and rating scam.