In Telangana, a case of cheating thousands of investors has come to light through Falcon Invoice Discounting Ponzi Scheme. There has been a loss of about 850 crores in this scam. According to the police, more than 6,000 investors invested their capital in this scheme.
Fraud of 22% returns
The scheme, called Falcon Invoice Discounting, promised 22% returns on short-term investment. Investors were claimed to connect companies such as Amazon and Britannia.
According to Telangana police, from 2021 till now, Rs 1,700 crore was raised from 7,000 investors through this scheme, but only half of them were returned to their amount.
Investors trapped through social media
Ankit Bihani, a Jeweler from Delhi, who had invested in this scheme, said that most of the investors had received information about this scheme through social media and online publicity.
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- Investments from Rs 25,000 to Rs 9 lakh were allowed in this scam.
- The duration of investment was fixed from 45 to 180 days.
- According to the police, Falcon created a fake mobile app and website, making it look like a valid invoice discounting service.
Payment to old investors with the money of new investors
Investigation revealed that Falcon used the money raised from new investors to pay the old investors and the remaining amount was transferred to fake companies.
The police have arrested two accused in this scam and the search for the main accused Amardeep Kumar is going on.
Investors’ concern: Will you get back money?
In this scheme, IT professional Rupesh Chauhan invested Rs 15 crore, while Assistant Professor S.K. Smriti lost 30 lakh rupees. Investors now suspect whether they will be able to get their hard earned money back.
Increasing danger of Ponzi schemes in India
Many Ponzi scams based on false promises of rapid return in India have already taken place, including:
- Pearls Group Scam (2003): Fraud of Rs 45,000 crore from 5.5 crore investors.
- Eye Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam: Investors cheated in the name of Islamic banking, founder Mansoor Khan ran away, but arrested in 2019.
Recently, in view of the increase in fake investment schemes, Indian officials are taking tough steps to stop such online fraud.
