Odisha EOW busts fake website used to dupe investors, issues advisory

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offense Wing in Odisha has busted a fraudulent website which was reportedly being used to dupe thousands of  investors in the country, and issued an advisory to create public awareness on the scam.

As per reports, during investigation of a case under  Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 6 OPID Act and 66C & 66D of IT Act, the investigating officer came across a fraudulent website namely http://www.smsmvip.com. On opening of the website it showed the name “Marathon Digital Holdings”.  The
website claimed to be an investment site in which investors could earn additional income on daily basis by investing a minimum amount of Rs.1000/- and maximum up to Rs.2 Lakhs. To lure/ trap the investor, they reportedly give some instant amount without doing anything (like on initial investment of Rs.1000 the investors get Rs.150 back without doing anything).

Official sources said the website was created in USA and being operated from Hong Kong (China) and has a unique modus operandi in which an investor would be given a set of tasks i.e liking some videos on YouTube etc. Further, the investor is required to send screenshots relating to the completion of the task as proof for completion of the task to the tutor on the Telegram Chat. The investors are then given the next set of tasks and for each task, they have to deposit a minimal amount of Rs 1000, which needs to be paid through an UPI ID reflected on the website. It is pertinent to mention here that the UPI ID reflected on the website gets changed on intervals of few minutes.

During enquiry, it came to light that the UPI ID’s reflected in the website for payment towards investment were linked to Bank accounts maintained in the name of many shell companies, firms and mule accounts maintained in the name of individual persons. Layering was used for transacting the ill-gotten money by transferring the bulk credit amount to further unknown accounts maintained in the name of firms
companies and individuals.

After analysing statement of accounts of 11 accounts linked to this fraud website, it came to light that within a period of 3-4 months the accounts had total transactions of Rs 39.11 crore with a left over Balance of 11.91 lakh
only, which was freezed by EOW. Bulk amount from most of these accounts was transferred to 3 accounts maintained with HDFC Bank , in which the total transactions were more than Rs 85 lakh out of which an amount of Rs.41.26 lakh were subsequently withdrawn in Dubai. The website is still active and
defrauding thousands of investors. It is suspected that at least 3700 investors across India have already been duped by this website/scheme, the EOW said in a release.

The advisory issued following the probe are as follows:

1.) Do not respond to unknown what’s app messages alluring you to
earn additional income .
2.) These numbers generally show Non-Indian mobile numbers .
3.) The communication/ call is never made live, but through
Telegram or Whats App chats .
4.) The website claims to give additional incomes through investment
in crypto mining or liking websites/ videos etc and the website
sends links for joining/ becoming member.
5.)The payment towards investment is always through UPI ID’s
which is reflected in in the website and keeps changing constantly
While making payment in the given UPI ID’s, security/ warning
messages are sent by Banks.
6.)The payment UPI ID’S show names of various companies, firms
and enterprises.
7.)Such fraudulent websites gain your trust through initial
payments/ commissions on investment but within 2-3 months the
withdrawal amount to the total amount is blocked.