New Delhi/Mumbai:
A Ukrainian actor has been arrested in a Ponzi scam which cheated hundreds in Mumbai by promising high returns on investments. Earlier this month, Torres Jewellery – which operated several stores across Mumbai – was shut after collecting crores from investors.
Armen Ataine – a Ukrainian actor – has been arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai police for his alleged role in assisting the masterminds – who are also Ukrainians – in the mega scam.
So far six people have been arrested in the case and a hunt to track down the masterminds is on. The Mumbai police have zeroed in on two Ukrainian nationals – Artem and Olena Stoin – for their alleged role. According to the cops, the two played a key role in conspiring how people can be lured with huge returns on their investment in gemstones, gold and silver.
The Ponzi Scheme
The Torres outlets opened in February last year at six locations in and around the Maximum City. They sold gemstone jewellery and also offered a bonus scheme. Under this scheme, a customer who invested Rs 1 lakh would get a pendant with a moissanite stone worth Rs 10,000.
The customers have now realised these stones were fake. Customers were promised 6 per cent interest on their investment to be paid out across 52 weeks. This interest rate climbed to 11 per cent. Customers said they got some payouts over the past year, but they stopped about two months back.
The Bumper Draw
Earlier this month, Torres posted a video on YouTube announcing that it will provide 11 per cent interest on investments made before January 5, after which the rate will dip. The company encouraged cash payments by offering 0.5 per cent extra interest. The move aimed to draw a flood of investments. On January 6, the stores were shut and the investors realised they had been scammed.
The Investors
Most of these investors are from the lower middle class and include vegetable sellers and small traders who were lured by the promise of big returns. The amount invested under this scheme ranges from a few thousand rupees to crores. The seven people who filed the police complaint have said they had invested over Rs 13 crore between them.
One of the investors NDTV spoke to said her friends told her about the scheme. “We did get some payouts. We want to ask the government, if it got tax. So why is it not helping us now?”
Asked what made him trust the scheme, an investor said the brochure had the company’s GST and CIN numbers. “I thought it is so systematic, so the government must be aware of this. I request the government, we don’t want interest, but give us our money back.”
Company Claims Coup
Last week, Torres’ official YouTube account uploaded a video, claiming that its CEO led a coup and facilitated robbery at the company’s showrooms. “Under the leadership of two Torres employees, CEO Tausif Reyaz and Chief Analyst Abhishek Gupta, a coup was organised in the team tonight and Torres stores were robbed,” the voiceover says.
The video shows people vandalising stores and robbing money. The voiceover described these people as “accomplices” of Reyaz and Gupta. “Earlier, we learnt that they organised a fraudulent scheme and systematically appropriated the company’s money for many months… Realising that punishment was inevitable for them, they decided to involve other employees in their crime,” it added.