Odisha EOW Issues Advisory After Busting Fraudulent Website Duping Investors

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Police busted a website defrauding thousands of investors in the nation. Following the discovery of the website, the EOW released a warning to raise public awareness of the scam and prevent people from falling for its trap.

The investigating office unearthed the bogus website https://www.smsmvip.com while investigating a case under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 6 OPID Act, and Sections 66C and 66D of the IT Act. The website went with the name, “Marathon Digital Holdings”.

The website advertised itself as an investment platform where users could make daily additional income by contributing a minimum of Rs. 1000 and a maximum of Rs. 2 Lakh. According to a release from EOW, they allegedly deliver an instantaneous sum of money to entice or trap investors (for example, on an initial deposit of Rs 1000, investors receive Rs 150 back without doing anything).

An investor would be given a set of tasks, such as liking some YouTube videos, on the website, which was developed in the USA and is currently being run from Hong Kong (China). Additionally, the investor must submit screenshots of the task’s completion to the tutor via Telegram Chat to prove that the task was successfully completed. The investors are then given the following set of tasks, and for each job, they are required to deposit a minimum of Rs 1000 through a UPI ID that is visible on the website. It is important to note that the UPI ID displayed on the page is updated every few minutes.

After examining the statement of accounts for 11 accounts connected to this fraud website, it was discovered that, over the course of 3–4 months, the accounts had transactions totalling Rs. 39.11 crore and a balance remaining of just Rs. 11.91 lakh, which was frozen by EOW. Bulk funds from the majority of these accounts were transferred to three accounts held with HDFC Bank, in which there were more than 85 lakh rupees worth of transactions, of which 41.26 lakh rupees were subsequently withdrawn in Dubai. Thousands of investors are being duped by the website, which is still operational. According to an announcement from the EOW, at least 3700 investors in India are believed to have already fallen for this website’s/scheme’s tricks.

The EOW issued an advisory following the probe:

Do not respond to unknown what’s app messages alluring you to earn additional income
2. These numbers generally show Non-Indian mobile numbers.
3. The communication/ call is never made live, but through
Telegram or Whats App chats.
4. The website claims to give additional income through investment in crypto mining or liking websites/ videos etc and the website sends links for joining/ becoming a member.
5. The payment towards investment is always through UPI IDs
which is reflected in the website and keeps changing constantly
While making payment in the given UPI IDs, security/ warning