Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi
New Delhi, Apr 15: Delhi Police's cyber crime team has arrested a 31-year-old man from Rajasthan for allegedly defrauding over 150 investors through a Ponzi scheme that promised to double their money, police said on Tuesday.
The accused, Vinod Kumar, a resident of Purani Abadi in Sri Ganganagar, was tracked down and apprehended using electronic surveillance. Two mobile phones containing incriminating chats and YouTube promotional material were seized from him, officials confirmed.
According to M. Harsha Vardhan, DCP (Central Delhi), Vinod set up a fake investment platform under the name ‘DW Exchange Pro’ and widely advertised it on YouTube and Facebook, offering monthly returns of up to 28 per cent.
“He lured victims by initially returning small profits to gain trust. Later, he stopped paying back and used multiple WhatsApp numbers to run the fraud systematically,” said Vardhan.
Police said Vinod instructed investors to transfer money to his accounts in reputed public sector banks like SBI and PNB, and later diverted the funds into cryptocurrency investments.
The scam came to light when a Delhi resident filed a complaint, claiming he and his wife were duped of Rs 19 lakh. They were initially drawn in through a YouTube video and joined a WhatsApp group named ‘Dollar Win Exchange’. Starting with small investments, they were later coaxed into depositing larger sums, only to have payments stop entirely.
Following the complaint, a case was registered under Section 318(4) BNS for cheating and dishonest inducement.
During interrogation, Vinod revealed he had earlier worked for six years in a cooperative society, where he learned tactics of multi-level marketing and how to attract investors.
Police are now tracing other possible victims and financial links related to the scam.