Tura, July 25: Hundreds of people in Garo Hills, including state capital Shillong, have fallen prey to a Ponzi scheme that lured unsuspecting victims to invest substantial sums of money in return for quick returns that have now disappeared into thin air and the money trail has gone cold.

Crores of rupees are believed to have been siphoned off in this latest Ponzi scam and the victims come from Shillong, Tura, Resubelpara, Williamnagar and various other towns.
The lid was blown off the financial scam after dozens of people who invested large sums of money failed to get back their returns on Monday, this week, and began approaching authorities.

The first police FIRs to come in were in Shillong on Tuesday and from North Garo Hills district where several victims approached Resubelpara police station to register their FIR on Wednesday afternoon. Authorities are bracing for more police complaints as the story unfolds.

One of the men involved in the racket, identified as Aaron T Sangma, reportedly from North Garo Hills, has been arrested from Laban area of Shillong, after a lookout notice was issued. He is suspected to be a mule with the main perpetrators of the scam lodged in some metro city of the country.

The number of victims are staggering with preliminary reports pointing to over 100 victims in Shillong and over 300 in Garo Hills alone. In some cases entire families have lost a fortune investing their savings in the hope of quick returns.

The modus operandi was simple- A link to an app called “Datameer ai” was provided to an unsuspecting customer who quickly shared it with others after getting an early return in interest money. This set a chain reaction opening up the scheme to hundreds of unsuspecting people.

And it began less than two months ago.

“Members who joined would get a commission if they shared the link to a newcomer who invested in the scheme,” says a Williamnagar citizen whose close companion lost seventy-five thousand rupees in this racket.

And it is not just young men and women who have fallen prey to this scam. A substantial number of medical doctors and other government officers have allegedly invested money to the tune of several lakhs in the hope of getting a huge return.

Two doctors reportedly invested Rs. 1.6 lakh, another nurse put in a lakh, while several more gave in close to fifty thousand rupees of their savings. One woman reportedly gave in the loan money she obtained from the bank for construction of a house, it is alleged.

Disappearing Act
The panic button was pressed this week, on Monday, when the app suddenly stopped working and money that was claimed to be inside an “E-Wallet” failed to get transferred into the accounts of the investors.

“No withdrawals were allowed on weekends- Saturday and Sunday, and what cash was due to any investor used to be put into the individual’s ‘E-Wallet’ that could be withdrawn only on Monday,” say some of the victims.

On D-day, Dozens of investors tried to log in to obtain their money from the E-wallet only to receive an AI generated message that the money is under “bank processing”. But the money never arrived.

By the time they realized something was wrong the trail had gone cold with the app no longer working.

Police sources say the total amount stolen from unsuspecting customers could be valued at several crores. They believe the case is solvable given recent success stories against such financial rackets.

Also Read: Khasi & Garo languages to be included as ‘optional’ for Post Office recruitment

Watch

Find latest news from every corner of Northeast India at hubnetwork.in, your online source for breaking news, video coverage.

Also, Follow us on-

Twitter-twitter.com/nemediahub

Youtube channel- www.youtube.com/@NortheastMediaHub2020

Instagram- www.instagram.com/ne_media_hub