New Delhi, February 24
The Mumbai Police have begun probing a cryptocurrency fraud that has surfaced called, ‘Coin ZX’.
The police have booked Ravi Mahaseth, the managing director of cryptocurrency platform CoinZx, and five others for allegedly deceiving people into investing in a cryptocurrency launched by his company.
According to the police, people across the country have been duped by the company. Investigators suspect that the amount involved in the scam could reach up to Rs 200 crore.
The police received a complainant, from a businessman from Borivali who runs a tour and travel company, said he learnt about the investment firm through his friend. He was allegedly told that if he invested money in the Coin ZX cryptocurrency scheme, he would receive substantial returns. The owner stays in Malad and has provided 5 per cent to 20% profit per month to me and thousands of other investors in various schemes.
He and other investors were persuaded to invest large sums of cash in Coin ZX, which was projected to become “India’s Bitcoin”. The company allegedly presented the project as a high-return opportunity and to gain investors’ trust, pointed out that the schemes were backed by Mahaseth’s large forex trading business. When the complainant raised the issue with Mahaseth, he allegedly told him that they were accepting only cash because digital currency transactions are not yet established in India, as per his complaint to police.
Several investors like him rushed to the police station with similar woes.
The police probe shows that the company had a bogus website and would provide a login ID and password to investors to access it. The victims were told that they could view all the details of their investment and the Coin ZX coins they received by logging into the company’s website.
The Mumbai police stated that Mahaseth allegedly ran other investment companies like FX & Smart Bull, Smart X, and Samruddhi Multi Trade Pvt Ltd and many people invested money in his schemes.
