Adilabad: An online multi-level marketing business of ‘cryptocurrency’ and ‘Bitcoin’ is spreading fast in the villages of the Adilabad district and organisers are targeting gullible people promising them high profits for their investment in these schemes. Many government employees are found busy running this business these days as they see this as an easy way to make money.
The online business reached interior villages with the availability of the internet and mobile phones. Here are the stages of the business; people have to join as members and invest in the cryptocurrency a minimum of Rs 5,000 to a maximum of Rs 10 lakh. The organisers promise high profits and offer bonuses and high commissions to members if they enroll more members into the business, like in a multi-level marketing business. One can create an account on Metamask (a wallet) and later in Ubit. A good number of people have become active in the Unit Coin or U-bit coin cryptocurrency schemes being run and some government employees including a good number of teachers, who are running the businesses in the villages and creating a network of members in the Nirmal district.
Nirmal Superintendent of police Janaki Sharmila took serious note of several gullible people falling prey to this cryptocurrency business. Some of the people who lost a great amount of their money in this business have approached the Nirmal police, who conducted an investigation into the issue and found shocking things. The police identified a large number of government employees, including several government teachers, an Excise SI and an armed reserve police constable who were running this business in Nirmal district.
Nirmal police had registered cases against the persons cheating innocent people in the name of Ubit business and subsequently Nirmal DEO Ravinder Reddy suspended two teachers B. Saikiran and K. Naresh both are working as SGTs in Kadam mandal for their involvement in the Ubit business and neglecting their duties. It is learnt that Nirmal DEO also issued show-cause notices to a few other teachers for their alleged involvement in the business. Reportedly, several government school teachers are using their work hours to run the businesses and neglecting their duties. DEO Ravinder Reddy said they were keeping a close watch on the activities of some teachers.
Bhainsa ASP Avinash Kumar, who was appointed as the investigating officer and led a special team formed to deal with fraud in Bitcoin online business, said there was no legal recognition of this business and it was being spread through special Whatsapp groups. He said many gullible people lost their hard-earned money by investing in the Bitcoin business and appealed to the people not to get trapped in this online business and not to lose their hard-earned money.
