Mumbai:
Two Ukrainian nationals, including a woman, have been identified as the masterminds of a Ponzi scam that duped hundreds of people in Mumbai by promising huge returns on investments. The Economic Offenses Wing of Mumbai Police, which is investigating the Torres Jewelery scam, has taken note of the role of Ukrainian nationals Artem and Olena Stoney and is trying to nab them. According to police sources, both of them played a key role in the conspiracy to lure people with huge returns on their investments in gems, gold and silver.
The investigators are also probing 14 luxury cars given to investors as lucky draw prizes. Sources said that the purpose of these cars was to attract more and more customers in the Ponzi scheme. After the closure of 6 stores of Torres Jewelery chain last week, the world of many investors was turned upside down as they were defrauded of crores of rupees in the name of huge returns in this scheme. Following the complaint, the police have registered a case against the holding firm Platinum Hern Private Limited, its two directors, CEO, general manager and a store in-charge. Other charges including fraud and criminal conspiracy have been leveled against the accused.
what was the scheme
In February last year, Torres outlets were opened at 6 locations in and around Maximum City. They used to sell gemstone jewelery and also give bonus scheme. Under this scheme, a customer investing Rs 1 lakh would get a moissanite stone pendant worth Rs 10,000. Customers have now come to know that all these stones are fake. Customers were promised 6 percent interest on the investment made by them in 52 weeks. Later this interest was increased to 11 percent. Customers told that they were getting interest initially but they have not received any interest for the last two months.
bumper draw
Seven days ago, while sharing a video on his YouTube page, Torres had announced that he will give up to 11 percent interest to customers who invest before January 5 and after that the interest rate will be reduced. Along with this, the company was promising 0.5 percent more interest on cash payment and due to this many people came to invest in it. After this, on January 6, all the stories of Torres were closed and investors realized that they had been scammed.
Who are the investors?
Most of these investors are from the lower middle class and include vegetable sellers and small traders who were lured by huge returns. The amount invested under this scheme ranges from a few thousand rupees to crores of rupees. The seven people who lodged the complaint with the police have said that they had invested more than Rs 13 crore among themselves. An investor told NDTV that his friend had told him about this scheme. “We had received some payment. We want to ask the government that if it has received tax then why is it not helping us now?”
When asked why he had confidence in the scheme, an investor said that the brochure contained the company’s GST and CIN numbers. “I felt it was very systematic, so the government should know about it. I request the government, we don’t want interest, but give us our money back.”
The company made this claim
Last week, Torres’ official YouTube account uploaded a video claiming that “two Torres employees, led by CEO Tauseef Reyaz and Chief Analyst Abhishek Gupta, organized a coup d’état within the team tonight and at Torres stores. Looting was done.” In this video it can be seen that the store is being demolished and money is being looted. In the voiceover, these people have been described as “accomplices” of Reyaz and Gupta. “First, we learned that they hatched a fraud scheme and systematically embezzled company money over several months. They then decided to involve other employees in their crime.”
