SIT for Ponzi scam; I’ll be back, says mastermind

NOIDA: A day after a Rs 3,700-crore Ponzi scam was busted by the special task force in Noida, Uttar Pradesh DGP Javeed Ahmad on Friday announced that the case will be investigated by a Special Investigation Team (SIT).

“UP STF busts 3700 crore internet based cheating racket across N India. 3 arrested. Will set up SIT for comprehensive investigation. Kudos STF,” Javeed tweeted.

On Friday, the accused were produced before a court which sent them to judicial custody.

The STF has also started a detailed investigation into the case. A team of

Serious Fraud Investigation Office

and I-T officials visited the company’s office in Sector 63 and scanned the documents.

Raj Kumar Mishra, DSP, STF-Noida, said the website of Social Trade – socialtrade.biz – has been deactivated for investigation purposes. “The company’s mobile application has also been stopped,” he said.

Preliminary investigations found that most investors had not received the payment in January and a number of complaints queued up at the company’s server. The investigators have also not got any evidence of business with any third party for promoting hits on latter’s digital space.

No money, other than that of investors, was deposited in the company’s accounts. The police suspect that some people connected to the company may have gone abroad.

The main accused,

Anubhav Mittal

, had swindled more than six lakh people in a scheme named Social Trade. He had started the company,

Ablaze Info Solutions Pvt Ltd

, in 2011 when he was pursuing a BTech programme in a private college in Greater Noida. The Social Trade was started in August 2015.

‘We will be back again, we will rock’
A video of the main accused Anubhav Mittal is circulating on WhatsApp groups in which he was shown talking to the investors and company officials telling them to have faith in him. In the 38 second video, he names four female colleagues and others and said they need to stand with him. “It is a two, three, four days bad phase for us. We will be back again, we will rock the world,” he said in the video.

The video was supposedly made by Anubhav Mittal’s colleague after his arrest.

Email ID launched for victims

The UP STF has issued an email ID – reportfraud@upstf.com – for the victims of ponzi scheme. The officials said that the fraud victims can sent the details which will be incorporated in the investigation. This will also help in returning the money of the investors after the investigation and completion of formalities.


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