Bengaluru: The K R Puram police are investigating an online multi-level marketing (MLM) fraud, which they suspect runs into Rs 280 crore. The fraudsters were involved in an online advertisement viewing/chain link network that promised huge returns to investors, police said.
According to a senior police officer, five people have been detained for questioning while the main accused, identified as Damodar Reddy, is absconding. Police have sought help from the public to nab Reddy, a resident of Hyderabad.
“The main accused of the K R Puram online cheating case has been absconding. Five persons have already been arrested. They have cheated hundreds of investors of about Rs 280 crore,” Additional Commissioner of Police (Law & Order) Alok Kumar tweeted, sharing the photograph of the main accused.
“Hundreds of innocent investors duped by online site adops.biz. Plz give info about main accused Damodar Reddy R/o Hyderabad (sic),” Kumar wrote in another tweet.
A few days ago, Srinivas, a city-based businessman, had lodged a complaint stating that he had been cheated of Rs 18 lakh by the owners of the website.
He told the police that he had enrolled as a member and had invested in various schemes offered on the website over a period of three months, but it was shut down suddenly.
“The website was an ad viewer. Once a person pays some money and join as a member in the various schemes, they can advertise their company.
“The website promised that some amount would be credited to the members’ accounts if they viewed a certain number of advertisements every day. Also, if the members introduced and added more people to the network, they were paid more money,” a police official explained.
The accused had rented a small room on Kumbar Beedi near K R Puram Government College for office space and had put up a board. About a month ago, it was taken down and the office was closed.
Nikhil G K, the building, owner, said he had seen three people coming into the room only a couple of times. The police are now enquiring into the number of people who had enrolled as members with the website and done business with it. “We are not sure of the scale of the business, but we are investigating it. We are also tracking the owners of the website and the main people behind in it,” they said.
Early this month, the CCB police had arrested four people of YOBSN Social Media Network, including a New Zealand national, for running a Ponzi scheme through a website www.socialmediatechnologies.com.
