Adilabad: A multi-crore Ponzy scheme has come to light, in which hundreds of investors were cheated in the name of ‘The Wine Group’ (TWG) app, in the coal belt areas in Mancherial district.
Many people from Chennur, Mancherial, Bellampalli, Luxettipet, Srirampur, and Mancherial areas in the district joined ‘The Wine Group’, which, it is said, has lakhs of members from across the country. A woman from Mancherial town, who invested ₹10 lakh in the group, said the promoters and the representatives of the multi-crore scheme went incommunicado when they were questioned after they realised that they were cheated.
However, none of the victims has come forward to file a complaint with the police against the illegal investment fraud, fearing social stigma.
According to sources, hundreds of people including small businessmen invested their hard-earned money on the promise of huge monthly returns from the promoters. The promoters promised the investors of returning ₹20,000 per month if they make 230 members join the group.
Initially, some of the investors got their money back after buying wine bottles online and later, the payments were stopped.
The business model was a chain system, in which each member should purchase wine bottles and they will get monthly returns. The members should also join new members in the business. The promoters created Whatsapp groups under the name of ‘The Wine Group’ and started joining members and promoters operated their transactions on their own App.
After six months, when the returns were stopped, the investors were asked to invest some money by downloading ‘Paypal App’, when questioned. Later, they realized that they were duped by the promoters who went incommunicado, claiming that they were in Goa and Gurgaon and Delhi.
