'Social trade' scam: All you need to know about online fraud of Rs 3,700 crore

NOIDA: Busting an online fraud to the tune of Rs 3,700 crore, the Uttar Pradesh police have arrested three persons alleged to have duped nearly 7 lakh people through an online portal 'socialtrade.biz'. The 'investors' were cheated under a scheme named Social Trade. How did 'social trade' work?

• The police arrested three persons- Anubhav Mittal, Sridhar Prasad and Mahesh Dayal from Sector 63 in Noida and seized nearly Rs 500 crore from them.
• The accused used to run a portal 'socialtrade.biz' under which an investor had to pay anything between Rs 5,750 to Rs 57,500 in the company's account to become the member and earn Rs 5 per click.
• The portal was launched in August 2015 and offered four different ‘packages' to the investors to earn money.
• After paying the money to the company, the investors were asked to like pages and click on the links they were sent.
• The company claimed it earned Rs 6 for every click and gave Rs 5 of it to the investors. However, the links sent by the company were fake, police said.
• The firm was registered under the name of Ablaze Info Solutions Pvt Ltd. in Noida and the accused used to constantly change the portal's name.
• So far the firm defrauded over 6.5 lakh people collecting around Rs 3,700 crore, police said.
• Anubhav Mittal, who is said to be the kingpin, holds a B.Tech degree and hails from Ghaziabad. Prasad is from Visakhapatnam and Dayal is from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.

• Besides seizing Rs 500 crore from a bank, police have seized various documents including the balance sheet of the company, list of directors and other officials and list of investors.

(With inputs from agencies)