[2018-04-07] BS:Amit Bhardwaj: The mastermind behind Bitcoin Ponzi scheme

Amit Bhardwaj: The mastermind behind Bitcoin Ponzi scheme

http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/amit-bhardwaj-the-mastermind-behind-bitcoin-ponzi-scheme-118040700071_1.html

Amit Bhardwaj, the mastermind behind one of the largest Bitcoin Ponzi schemes in India, was arrested this week. The 35-year-old had been actively marketing his scheme since 2015, before it came to the notice of the authorities.

Several investors were lured to his Ponzi schemes, which promised handsome returns.

Zakhil Suresh, a finance student living in Kerala, was one of them. In a petition to the Delhi Commissioner of Police to arrest Bhardwaj, Suresh said that he and his friends met Bhardwaj in 2015 at Delhi where the latter explained his five-year business plan. Bhardwaj claimed his company had a mining pool in China and for every contract of one Bitcoin, his company promised to pay back 0.1 Bitcoin a month, for 18 months, translating to an effective monthly return of 10 per cent.