For Manoj Aggarwal and Kushal Chopra both scammers who deceive victims in India with OneCoin MLM opportunities, the ‘chicken has come home to roost’.
They were both declared missing on the 11th of January. One of the kidnapped scammer’s sister received a call that they have been taken hostage and that their ransom is Rs 36 Lakh which is equivalent to USD52,000.
After the police raided the hideouts of the hostage takers and they were apprehended, it turn out that Manoj Aggarwal and Kushal Chopra had promised the three men over 200% interest/return on investment when they were lured into investing into OneCoin, a pseudo-cryptocurrency that has no acceptance except within the OneLife Network MLM organisation whih has been criticised a Ponzi Scheme.
According to Times of India:
A woman came to the Shakarpur police station on January 12 and filed a complaint that her brother, Kushal, had not come back since 7.30pm on January 11. She also told the police that she received a ransom call of Rs 36 lakh. She also got some messages demanding money, she said. A case was registered on her complaint.
“The call details were taken out, and locations of the victim and the kidnappers were tracked,” said Omvir Singh, deputy commissioner of police (east). Based on the phone locations, police conducted raids in different areas. The accused kept changing their locations and switched off their phones after some time. However, they were finally traccked to east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar on January 13. One of the accused, Aman, was apprehended and Kushal was rescued.
On being questioned, Kushal told the cops that Pankaj and Akash had called him to meet them in Connaught Place and later took him to a hotel in Gurgaon. More raids were conducted on the basis of the information gathered from Aman, and later Pankaj and Akash were also nabbed.
The men told the police that Kushal insisted that they should invest in a Bulgaria-based company, One Coin, which, they claimed, was registered under the Reserve Bank of India. Kushal then introduced them to his accomplice, Manoj, saying that he was the director of One Coin. They promised to double the deposited amount in three months. However, the three victims did not get any profit or the principal amount.
During interrogation, Manoj disclosed that he went to Hong Kong in August 2016 where he met the One Coin director, who made him the director to look after their business in India. A senior police officer said when they conducted a probe, they found that the company was causing huge losses to the Bulgarian government by using cryptocurrency that operates independently of a central bank.
It would be recalled that OneCoin had announced that all withdrawal from xCoinx, its self-created and managed OneCoin exchange are suspended bearing as a result of its IPO which has been shrouded in mystery.
OneCoin is also present in Nigeria with a fast growing affiliate marketing presence through the OneLife Network. Last week, the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission had issued an official warning to the public that OneCoin, Swisscoin and other supposed cryptocurrency might lead to huge losses for many people who are being lured to see them as investment securities.
Once again the third world moves on these various characters but very little seems to be happening here in Europe. I dont really understand the point about the Bulgarian government as there has been suggestion that the schemes are endorsed by the Government over there and certainly the founder of OneCoin Dr Ignatova has purchased extensive amounts of real estate over there.
It looks as if this pyramid Scheme is going down and I am convinced there will be lots of damage to the Investors who continue to be sold this worthless rubbish .