Torres Jewellery Ponzi Scheme: A new scam has surfaced in Mumbai, under which Torres Jewellery, a jewellery chain running six stores in Mumbai and surrounding areas, defrauded 1.25 lakh investors of more than Rs 1,000 crore through a Ponzi scheme by promising high returns. The company then accused its CEO and other employees of running a fraudulent scheme and vandalising its stores. Let's know about this case.
Mumbai Police has registered a case against the holding company Platinum Horn Private Limited and its two directors, CEO, general manager and a store in-charge. They have been charged with fraud, criminal conspiracy and many other charges. Let us tell you that Torres Jewellery opened its six stores in February last year to sell gem stone jewellery.
Along with this business, he started a bonus scheme for investments. Under this scheme, customers who invested Rs 1 lakh would get a pendant with moissanite stone worth Rs 10,000. However, he also told the customers that these stones were fake and were given to them as a symbol of their investment.
Apart from this, the company also lured investors with referral bonuses for more customers. Under this scheme, customers were promised that their investments would be paid weekly at the rate of 7% interest and this was later increased to 11%. Although the company initially made all payments for some time, the payments stopped completely about two weeks ago.
Torres recently uploaded a video on YouTube, announcing that investments made before January 5 will continue to earn 11% interest, while investments made after that will earn lower returns. He also offered an extra 0.5% interest for cash payments, so that more customers would invest. However, on January 6, all of Torres' stores were shut, leaving the money of about 1.25 lakh people stranded.
Most of the investors in this scheme are from the lower middle class, including vegetable sellers and small traders. They were lured by the promise of high returns, with investments ranging from a few thousand rupees to crores of rupees. On January 7, hundreds of investors gathered at Torres Jewellery store in Dadar to demand their money back.
Three people have been arrested in connection with this scam, including Sarvesh Ashok Surve, Tanya Kasatova and Valentina Kumar. However, the masterminds of the entire case, Ukrainian citizens John Carter and Victoria Kovalenko, have fled the country. Lookout Circulars (LOC) have been issued for their arrest. The Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) is investigating the case.
After the scam came to light, Torres Jewellery has claimed that senior managers and some employees are responsible for the scam and shutting down its stores. The company has announced on its official YouTube and Instagram accounts that store operations will resume soon and bonus payments will also be made to investors.
