Beauty products, easy money and a ponzi scheme that duped thousands in J&K

The company promised Rs 200 every fortnight for taking simple surveys through a free account. And here the seemingly innocuous activity takes a deceiving turn. The company had a paid account where the investors had to pay Rs 5,000 per account and were promised Rs 1,500 every fortnight for the surveys.

A person with more than one paid account was promised a proportionate increase in his/her income. The investors were also promised Rs 250 for every referral. And with more referrals, the company paid them more as promised, enticing new investors.

Even social media influencers made promotional videos.

When the investor numbers crossed thousands, the company pulled the plug and payments stopped suddenly.

Alarmed investors found all offices of the company shut Monday and its promoters and directors missing. A day before, a local YouTuber, with the social media handle ‘NAFxx Tech’ had warned people against “investing” in the ‘Curative Survey’ and explained how it could be a scam.

Amid uproar in the Valley over the scam, J&K Police’s Cyber Wing registered a case under IPC and IT Act. “The victims were deceived by the fraudulent company enticing them to invest their hard-earned money with false promises of substantial returns. During preliminary investigations, we found that the company exhorted the public to register on its website and become a partner in surveys it was undertaking. The registered individuals were promised payment for undertaking those surveys,” the police said in a statement.

“I was hesitant initially, but when I saw social media influencers promoting it, I trusted the scheme,” said Rayees-ul-Ashraf, from central Kashmir’s Budgam, who was duped. “They (Curative Survey) promised to return Rs 5,000 in 50 days by paying Rs 100 per day for daily surveys. I paid Rs 10,000 and got two IDs. I waited for 50 days and got my money back. Then I got another 10 IDs. As the money continued to come into my account, I got another 10 IDs. On Saturday, I withdrew Rs 12,000 and got two more IDs. In total, I got 23 IDs.”

On Monday, Ashraf said he was supposed to get a return of Rs 30,000. He got a message that a return had been initiated but the money was not transferred to his account.

“By then a YouTube channel has exposed them. I called their office and asked them about the video and they said they will initiate legal action against him (the channel),” he said. Ashraf said he and his cousins had got 53 IDs for Rs 1,65,000. “Of that, I only got Rs 60,000 back,” he said. “When I called the social media influencers for misleading us (with promotional videos), one of them apologised while another dared us to go to the police”.

“Over the last few days, the company allegedly stopped the due payment to persons registered and its promoters and directors are absconding. Their staff and registered individuals could not reach them,” the police said, adding that “several identified accounts of the company have been frozen.”

“Searches were conducted at multiple locations and registered offices of the company have been sealed. During searches, incriminating materials, including gadgets and documents, have been seized,” the police said.

“The registered owner promoters of the company are being identified and investigated. The role of the local office staff and persons promoting the schemes on social media is also under investigation,” the police said.