BitConnect, that started in 2016 is alleged that it has fooled investors by promising to double their Bitcoins in 100 days. Police has now said that investors in Gujarat may have lost over Rs. 500 crore in a fraud scheme by BitConnect which shut down earlier this year.
Director General, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Ashish Bhatia has revealed that many of the victims are yet to come forward. “We have received only one complaint of Rs. 1.14 crore at present. Many victims told us they want to lodge complaint but they have not come forward. They might be having the fear of Income Tax department (questioning the source of money). So we do not have the exact figure,” Bhatia said.
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“Many from Gujarat, mostly from Surat, had invested in the scheme. If we add up the money extorted by Shailesh Bhatt, the figure may come to over Rs. 500 crore,” he added.
It is to be noted that the prices of Bitcoin rose exponentially in 2017 which led people to invest heavily in it. Coming to the end of 2017 the rates fell rapidly causing loss to the investors. After this, RBI declared guidelines on operating cryptocurrencies including ‘Bitcoin’ which is not authorised or regulated by any central bank including the RBI.
Also Read: RBI Alerts Investors Against Virtual Currencies Like Bitcoin
Investors are showing their concerns and some have even filed FIR as the promoters of BitConnect disappeared after collecting Bitcoins crores. CID claimed that employees working at BitConnect’s Surat office have admitted that promoters had collected “crores of rupees from thousands of investors”
The scam came into light after Surat-based builder Shailesh Bhatt alleged that some policemen from Amreli district kidnapped him and his business partner and extorted Bitcoins worth Rs. 9 crore from them. CID has started the investigation of people linked with the scam.
Earlier, BitConnect attracted investors by promising to double their Bitcoins in 100 days. Workers of BitConnect suddenly closed the exchange and became untraceable. Investors have lost big money as now they can not trade the BCC tokens the company provided.
