India’s Biggest Scam Could Be Bigger Than Initially Estimated

India’s biggest scam involving crypto could actually be bigger than estimated with the investigators saying that the GainBitcoin scam could involve up to 600,000 BTC so let’s read more today in our bitcoin scams news.

India’s biggest scam to date continues to provide more details and extend the size and scope of the scam even four years after the case came to light. The police estimated that the GainBitcoins cam involved 80,000 BTC but now the number is nearing 600,000. Even at the current rate, 600,000 BTC is worth over $12 billion and the reports also suggest that the number of people scammed could reach 100,000. The police complaints lodged by investors who lost their money in the MLM Scheme increased to 40 and so far, the police detected 60,000 user IDs and email addresses.

The mastermind behind the scam Amit Bhardwaj died of a cardiac arrest a few months ago but the multilevel marketing scheme remained operational for a while. It offered a 10% monthly return in BTC investmetns for 18 months. The investors from India and abroad deposited their coins hoping for higher returns but given the limited number of BTC, it was a flawed model from the start which finally went bust in 2018 and left a long trail of cheated investors. During the protracted investigation and the judicial proceedings, the Supreme Court of India asked the government attorney to explain whether BTC is legal or not which is a question from authorities that was avoided.

India’s Enforcement Directorate is investigating the case and even booked a few family members of Bhardwaj including his brother and father for being involved in the scam. It also moved the Supreme court of India to give directions to one of the main accused and provide access to his crypto wallets by giving usernames and passwords. The accused said through the lawyer that he already provided all details to the police.

The investigators think that Bhardwaj’s family used multiple wallets to collect BTC deposits and most of them were still being traced. The ED also conducted raids at six locations in Delhi including some of the related attorneys of the company. Earlier, the reports showed that the police arrested two private investigators for stealing 1100 odd BTC from the wallets in the investigation and they were taken on board to assist the police as the authoriteis lacked the needed expertise. One of the investigators was a former police officer from the Indian Police Service who took voluntary retirement and started a private investigation company that specialised in crypto fraud.