'Social trade' scam: ED slaps PMLA case in Rs 3,700 crore Noida fraud; conducts raids in UP

The accused used to get people to deposit of Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 in exchange of linking them to social trade business portals. Photo: ABP News

LUCKNOW: The ED on Sunday  conducted searches in various Uttar Pradesh cities after it registered a money laundering case to probe the alleged Rs 3,700 ponzi scam case perpetrated by seeking fake social media 'likes' from lakhs of gullible investors by a Noida based firm. The firm alleged to have duped nearly 7 lakh people through an online portal ‘socialtrade.biz’. The ‘investors’ were cheated under a scheme named Social Trade. The agency conducted raids at the business and residential premises of the owners of the said firm and others in Noida, Ghaziabad and Kanpur, officials said adding "incriminating documents", that reveal assets worth crores of rupees of the accused, were seized. They said the Enforcement Directorate's zonal office here registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on an FIR of the UP police's Special Task Force (STF) which unearthed the alleged illegal ponzi or multi-level marketing scam few days back. The central probe agency said the fraudsters allegedly cheated about 6.5 lakh gullible investors of an estimated Rs 3,700 crore, a fraud many more times in value than the infamous Saradha chit fund scam of West Bengal and Assam which is pegged at Rs 2,500 crore. The UP STF had arrested the owner of the company Anubhav Mittal, its CEO Sridhar and the technical head Mahesh on February 2. "Modus Operandi of the accused according to their business scheme as alleged were that through their web portal they promoted a scheme where by liking the webpage, which were fictitiously shown associated to international social media groups like Google and Facebook, the users will earn money. "The accused persons propagated a false story that the promotional web pages linked on these international social media portals pay Rs 6 per likes out of which they pay Rs 5 to the investment/user," the agency said. The ED said the accused also "promoted four systematic investment plans offering various incentives depending upon the investment made by the user." "The multi-level marketing and ponzi schemes were run by Ms Ablaze Info Solutions Private Ltd, Ms Social Trade India Pvt Ltd, Ms 3W Digital Pvt Ltd and Ms Intmaart India Pvt Ltd," it said. The agency added all these firms were the "brain child" of Mittal and others. Sources said the agency will soon prepare to attach the assets of the accused and the firm under PMLA laws in order to protect the interest of the investors who were allegedly cheated. The agency, they said, will also write to the banks from where Mittal, his firm and associates were conducting their transactions. The ED will also co-ordinate with the STF and the Income Tax department to unearth the proceeds of the crime generated in this case, they added.