Man swindles engineer of over Rs 8L through fraudulent scheme

Bhubaneswar: The cyber crime and economic offence (CCEO) police in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday arrested a 27-year-old man for allegedly defrauding a systems engineer from Bengaluru of Rs 8.32 lakh through a fraudulent investment scheme. The accused, Swastik Nayak, resides in Infocity area and is employed with a private organisation here.
According to police, the 26-year-old victim, also from Bhubaneswar, knew the accused personally. Last year, Nayak convinced her to join a pyramid-structured multi-level marketing organisation, with assurances of swift returns on investment. The victim, trusting their personal connection, invested a substantial amount in the scheme.
"The accused exploited the victim's trust and convinced her to invest in what turned out to be a fraudulent scheme. We are investigating if more people have fallen prey to this scam," said DCP Jagmohan Meena. The victim, unaware of the deception, invested Rs 8.32 lakh in the bogus company and subsequently lost her funds. She filed a police complaint on April 22.
Police investigations revealed that the accused allegedly misappropriated her money by presenting himself as a key associate of a Hong Kong-based financial organisation. "The organisation had previously conducted illegal money circulation operations disguised as direct selling multi-level marketing. The scheme required members to make substantial investments and recruit additional participants to receive commissions and bonuses. Such chain structures inevitably collapse at some point, causing significant losses to investors, while only those who joined initially potentially receive financial benefits," another police official said.
The CCEO has advised citizens to be cautious of investment schemes promising unrealistic returns and to verify the legitimacy of such schemes with appropriate financial authorities before making any investments.