Indian Police Arrest Two in $150 Million Bitcoin Ponzi

The Indian Police have arrested 2 more persons involved in the Gain- Bitcoin Ponzi case, according to TOI.

This comes on the heels of a series of arrests made in Delhi where the police did raid a 4,000 sq. ft. mining facility, whose operators conned several victims into investing in Gain-Bitcoin.com.

“The persons were involved in marketing the scheme. They had lured hundreds of people and then disappear. We are currently investigating the case and are also finding out the number of peoples that have been duped,” the official added.

Gain-Bitcoin started out as a multi level marketing scheme in 2k15, where it grew to over 1 Lakh investors, all of whom were promised a monthly return of 10 percent on their investment.

The scam came to light after two First Information Reports were filed against Gain-Bitcoin in April 2k18, followed by another FIR filed in a different city. Authorities immediately regarded the crime as a multi city operation after this development. The authorities swooped in after a victim complained against Gain-Bitcoin in May 2k18.

During the preliminary investigation, officials from the cyber crime cell at the Indian city of Pune discovered the wallets controlled by a person, which was said to contain a total balance of 3.31 BTC a significant reduction from its previous balance of 5,372 Bitcoin. The authorities also contacted Zebpay in a bid to get an inquiry after determining that “a large volume of transactions between the victims and another person took place via its platform.”

As per a CCN report last month, a person offered to repay investors their initial bitcoin investments in their corresponding value in INR. The victims were, however, not enthused about the idea as they demanded to be paid in today’s market value.

“Today, the BTC price is much higher than what it was when we invested,” an anonymous victim was quoted as stating.