{"id":12796,"date":"2023-08-09T05:10:59","date_gmt":"2023-08-09T05:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/?p=12796"},"modified":"2023-08-09T05:11:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T05:11:00","slug":"indian-authorities-arrest-ringleaders-of-120m-crypto-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/?p=12796","title":{"rendered":"Indian authorities arrest ringleaders of $120M crypto scam"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\namzn_assoc_placement = \"adunit0\";\r\namzn_assoc_tracking_id = \"totafreearti-20\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_mode = \"search\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_type = \"smart\";\r\namzn_assoc_marketplace = \"amazon\";\r\namzn_assoc_region = \"US\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = \"crypto\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_category = \"All\";\r\namzn_assoc_search_bar = \"false\";\r\namzn_assoc_title = \"\";\r\namzn_assoc_rows =\"1\";\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/z-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/onejs?MarketPlace=US\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>Authorities in India have apprehended the perpetrators behind a multi-million dollar cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, as reported by <em>The Indian Express<\/em> on Aug. 8.<\/p>\n<p>The fraud involved a cryptocurrency project known as STA Crypto Token, which purported to leverage solar technologies and blockchain technology.<\/p>\n<p>According to the latest reports, the scam succeeded in stealing Rs 1,000 (10 billion rupees or $120 million) from its victims. Roughly 200,000 individuals, including 10,000 in the state of Odisha, were targeted by and invested in the scam.<\/p>\n<p>The Economic Offence Wing of the Odisha police arrested two individuals tied to STA Token: Gurtej Singh Sidhu, who headed the project, and his associate, Nirod Das.<\/p>\n<p>As per law enforcement reports, Sidhu avoided arrest by frequently relocating between cities. Jai Narayan Pankaj, Inspector-General of the Economic Offense Wing, said that law enforcement had been chasing Sidhu &#8220;for the past few days.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Police noted that they discovered transactions amounting to more than Rs 30 crore (300 million rupees or $3.6 million) in Das&#8217;s bank account.<\/p>\n<h2>Scam operated in multiple regions<\/h2>\n<p>Police said that the scam operated in several districts but did not gain approval to accept customer deposits from the Reserve Bank of India or other authorities.<\/p>\n<p>They added that the supposed crypto token was in fact a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme or Ponzi scam that used buzzwords, especially eco-friendly promises, to disguise its fraudulent nature. Police emphasized that the scam&#8217;s leaders ran an extensive promotional scheme, organizing events such as lunch and dinner parties at expensive hotels that featured guest speakers and musical performances.<\/p>\n<p>The project&#8217;s website was hosted in Iceland, but the scam nevertheless operated exclusively in India, according to the latest report.<\/p>\n<p>This crypto scam is not a standalone case in India. In April, officials froze nearly $12 million related to a project called HPZ token. CNBC has identified Morris coin, GainBitcoin, and a Karnataka-based scam as other recent India-based crypto frauds.<\/p>\n<p>The post Indian authorities arrest ringleaders of $120M crypto scam appeared first on CryptoSlate.<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\namzn_assoc_placement = \"adunit0\";\r\namzn_assoc_tracking_id = \"totafreearti-20\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_mode = \"search\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_type = \"smart\";\r\namzn_assoc_marketplace = \"amazon\";\r\namzn_assoc_region = \"US\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = \"bitcoin\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_category = \"All\";\r\namzn_assoc_search_bar = \"false\";\r\namzn_assoc_title = \"\";\r\namzn_assoc_rows =\"1\";\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/z-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/onejs?MarketPlace=US\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/indian-authorities-arrest-ringleaders-of-120m-crypto-scam\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Authorities in India have apprehended the perpetrators behind a multi-million dollar cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, as reported by The Indian Express on Aug. 8. The fraud involved a cryptocurrency project known as STA Crypto Token, which purported to leverage solar technologies and blockchain technology. According to the latest reports, the scam succeeded in stealing Rs 1,000 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethereum-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12796"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12798,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12796\/revisions\/12798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}