Himachal Pradesh cryptocurrency scam: A web of misinformation and deception

Tribune News Service

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, November 5

The investigation into the cryptocurrency scam that has rocked Himachal Pradesh is turning out to be a spider’s web, in which about 1 lakh people were duped and about 90 per cent of them are from the hill state. The special investigating team (SIT), tasked with unravelling the scam, has estimated it to be worth Rs 2,000 crore. As a majority of the transactions were made in cash, the police are finding it difficult to track the money trail to the accused.

Nearly 1 lakh people duped in multi-crore fraud

• To attract investors, the fraudsters introduced two cryptocurrencies, ‘Korvio Coin’ and ‘DGT Coin’. They also established deceptive websites featuring manipulated digital currency prices
• They enticed early investors by promising rapid, high returns, and established a network of investors who further expanded the scheme within their own networks
• The perpetrators employed a combination of misinformation and deception to maintain control over the scheme and continue siphoning money from investors by manipulating cryptocurrency prices, leading to significant financial losses. About 1 lakh people were duped
• Cryptocurrency is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not dependent on any central authority, such as the government or a bank to uphold or maintain it

An interesting fact in the scam is that thousands of people, who were duped, were also accused of being party to the scam as they motivated others to invest in the fake cryptocurrency created by main accused, Subhash Sharma from Mandi district. Among those who acted as the agents under the scheme included thousands of residents of the state, including police personnel, government employees, doctors and shopkeepers.

The police have arrested 18 persons in the case so far. However, the main accused in the scam has fled the country as per SIT head Abhishek Dular, DIG (North range). Among those nabbed are two main aides of Subhash Sharma — Hemraj from Sarkaghat and Sukhdev from Dharampur areas of Mandi district. They accused implemented a Ponzi-style strategy, enticing initial investors to bring in more participants.

Dular said the scam started in 2018 when Subhash Sharma floated a fake cryptocurrency in the name of Korvio coin and DGT coins. Deceptive websites were created in which people were shown high returns in case they invested in the cryptocurrencies created by Sharma. The people, who initially invested in the scheme, were given high returns (up to 10 per cent per month) and in turn they turned into agents.

When asked about the role of policemen in the scam, Dular said since they were actively involved in encouraging people to invest in fake cryptocurrency, criminal as well as department action might be initiated against them. The police would also write to respective heads of the government departments whose employees were acting as agents in the scheme, he said.

Dular said the police were also taking help of the ED and the Income Tax Department to locate money trails against the accused, he said. The police were concentrating on nabbing those who made a fortune under the scheme and their numbers might extend to hundreds, the sources told The Tribune.

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