BTech meets MBA to script mega Ponzi fraud

NOIDA: Anubhav Mittal, the 26-year-old mastermind of the Ponzi scheme that swindled more than 6 lakh people, started on the wrong path in his college days itself.

Ablaze Info Solutions Private Limited

, the company used to fleece over 6 lakh people through a Ponzi scheme based on hitting like buttons, was started by Mittal back in 2011 while he was still doing his BTech from a private college in Greater Noida.

Mittal, police said, used a fake address in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk to register the company. He named himself and his father Sunil Mittal directors. But Ablaze saw little business. In 2011, it netted just Rs 70,000. Mittal completed his BTech the same year but persisted with Ablaze.

But business grew slowly. Till 2015, the annual revenue was between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 4 lakh, police said.

Mittal, who lives in Ghaziabad, then came up with Social Trade and built a ruse around a prevalent practice among companies of buying likes for social media visibility. He had no clients but he knew technology enough to know how to subvert it. He sold a fake scheme but had no problem finding subscribers as he dangled the bait of easy money.

It was through the subscriptions that he met his partner in crime, Shridhar Prasad, an MBA who had worked in several private companies and floated a startup called Move-N that failed. He needed money. His wife had subscribed to Social Trade and Prasad sensed an opportunity.

After a meeting with Mittal, Prasad was inducted into Ablaze as CEO.

Mittal and Prasad now hold the key to an investigation that could spread across several Indian cities. Police said the money deposited in their company’s bank accounts was frequently transferred to different accounts that are now under the scanner.

Any Ponzi scheme is illegal and punishable under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act 1978. The role of some bank officials is also under scrutiny, police said. Investigators have not ruled out more arrests in the coming days. The income tax department, Sebi and RBI have been informed, police said. The Noida-STF is seeking the help of forensic experts in the investigation.