BHUBANESWAR: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Crime Branch has busted a massive crypto-ponzi scam of India by arresting Gurtej Sigh Sidhu, the India head of ‘STA Crypto token’ from Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan.
Apart from Sidhu, EOW also arrested Nirod Das of Bhadrak who is the Odisha head of STA, (Solar Techno Alliance), which was launched in September 2021.
Senior EOW officials said that STA had a grand celebration in a star hotel in Goa last week. Over one thousand up-line members including many from Odisha attended this meeting.
“Film star Govinda was the chief guest of this meeting/celebration. Govinda also released some videos promoting/endorsing STA,” EOW said in a release. The EOW launched a probe after getting intelligence that a crypto currency based ponzi scheme/scam is being run in Odisha especially in Bhadrak, Balasore, Bhubaneswar, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, kendrapada and Keonjhar districts.
Transactions (credit and debit) of more than Rs 30 crore was noticed in the bank account of Nirod Das, Odisha head of STA. Also there are huge cash deposits in his accounts which indicates that lots of black money is routed in this scam.
All the accounts have been frozen. Total money involved (Pan India) in STA is estimated to be more than Rs 1,000 crore.
STA through some up-line members in these districts used propaganda tools to persuade people to join in this scheme and earn huge money in a very short time. It was found that members have started using the STA token like a legal tender in their day to day business.
It is estimated that more than ten thousand people from Odisha have already been members of this scheme. This scheme/scam has more than 2 lakh members (Pan India) mainly in the states like Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Assam.
STA (Solar Techno Alliance), which was launched in September 2021, claimed to be a “one stop Solar Technologies service that enables users to order anything they like from the nearest farmers in the shortest possible time using block chain technology.
However, EOW found that STA is not authorized by RBI or any other authorities to collect deposits. STA runs a huge ponzi (MLM/ Pyramid) scheme in the garb of Crypto Token.
STA uses socially popular terms like green energy, solar technology to mask its Crypto-Ponzi scam, claimed EOW.
STA website is hosted from Iceland but its business activity is limited to India.
STA is headed by one David Gez, a young Hungarian (Europe) national who has visited India multiple times.
Gurtej singh Sidhu is said to have reached the top level of STA’s Pyramid structure (Kohinnor leadership in STA language) and he heads the scheme/ scam in India. He also claims to be a crypto currency expert, MLM Guru, Life coach and a motivational speaker.
Both David Gej and Gurtej Sidhu have travelled to many places in India, including Odisha, and have attended various STA programmes. They also run several YouTube channels for publicity and tutoring the new members.
Members are promised that they will earn $20 to $3,000 per day if they join this scheme and add more members under them. Members get bonuses and various royalties for adding new members.
