Q-Fon app investment scam: ED launches probe, searches at 10 Ahmedabad, Surat premises

The searches were carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and aimed at recovering financial documents, digital records, and other material to help trace the movement of funds. The probe was based on an FIR registered by Thane’s Vartak Nagar police station, which was later transferred to Thane Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW).

As per officials, the “digital investment plan” allegedly promised returns between 2% and 10.5% per month and claimed to generate revenue through online advertisements on mobile applications.

Thane police probe had earlier revealed multiple mobile apps were reportedly floated between May 2020 and January 2024, and a large number of investors were drawn in through promotional messages and referral schemes.

An official said that nearly 124 investors collectively invested more than Rs 91 crore through online transfers and cash deposits. The company later ceased operations, leaving investors unable to recover their money.

Investigators found that as in all ponzi schemes, the initial returns that investors were paid were actually investments that new participants put in. Once new customers stopped coming, the accused started to lapse on payments.

When the inflow of new investors slowed down, the operators were suspected to have diverted the remaining funds through multiple linked accounts and associated entities, an official added. The accused then transferred the rest of the remaining amount through multiple linked accounts.

From the homepage

Amid hijab row in Kerala, church pushback, minister climbdown and a CPM balancing act

Meet Hina Khan, the Madhya Pradesh cop who used ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan to stun agitating lawyers into silence

‘Yamraj’ and ‘jail’ await you: UP CM Yogi’s warning to miscreants ahead of Diwali