So far 24 investors have come forward claiming they’ve been conned out of $55,000.

Police in the western Indian state of Maharashtra have arrested two people on suspicion of running a crypto scam thought to have conned more than 1,400 investors of between $6 million and $12 million.

The arrests were made on Aug. 10 after raids in Thane and Powai, two regions in the Mumbai area, said the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Thane Police.

The police arrested Ritesh Dilip Kumar Sikligar, alias Pancha, and Mohan Patil, an agent who lured customers from around the country into the scheme, said an EOW officer investigating the case. The Economic Offences Wing secured custody of Kumar, thought to be the mastermind, and Patil till Aug. 20th for questioning. The two have been in jail since then.

“In court, while securing custody, we stated that based on currently available information the scam is worth 6 crore ($750,000), but we estimate the amount to be upwards of 50 crore and below 100 crore,” the officer said. “Some discrepancies in the amount of money associated with each of the 1,400 or so investors have emerged.” One crore is the equivalent of 10 million.

The scheme involved luring investors with promises of massive rates of return. The more they invested, the higher the rate of return. The crypto tokens were named SMP and Magic 3x. These were not listed on any exchange.

So far 24 investors have said they’ve lost a total of 4.4 million rupees. The investigating officer said the police expects the number to rise as more people come forward.

The scheme involved luring investors with promises of massive rates of return. The more they invested, the higher the rate of return. The crypto tokens were named SMP and Magic 3x. These were not listed on any exchange.

“The culprits would lure customers promising rates of interest ranging from 0.05% to 1% per day depending on the amount invested,” one police officer said. “If 24,000 rupees were invested, the rate of return was 0.05% per day with the promise that within 20 months that amount would triple to around 72,000 rupees.”

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Finance Mister Nirmala Sitharaman made her comment in answer to a series of written questions from a member of parliament about cryptocurrency legislation.

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has reiterated the stance of India’s central bank (Reserve Bank of India or RBI) to ban cryptocurrencies in the lower house of parliament but said that no legislation is possible without significant international collaboration.

The written statement was in response to five written questions from Thirumaavalavan Thol, a member of parliament. The questions included whether the RBI had issued any notice restricting the use of cryptocurrency in India during the last 10 years, and whether the government has any plan to legislate any law restricting the use of cryptocurrency in India.

Sitharaman said “RBI is of the view that cryptocurrencies should be prohibited.” The RBI’s stance on crypto has remain unchanged for some time now. On Feb. 14, 2022, T Rabi Shankar, the deputy governor of India’s central bank, said that “banning cryptocurrency is perhaps the most advisable choice open to India.”

“RBI has recommended for framing of legislation on this sector. RBI is of the view that cryptocurrencies should be prohibited. Cryptocurrencies are by definition borderless and require international collaboration to prevent regulatory arbitrage. Therefore any legislation for regulation or for banning can be effective only after significant international collaboration on evaluation of the risks and benefits and evolution of common taxonomy and standards,” the finance minister said.

The question is among the first crypto-related queries in parliament after reports that the RBI is responsible for a “shadow ban” on cryptocurrencies after payment processors cut off crypto exchanges. The question read, “whether the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued instructions, circulars, directions, warnings etc. regarding restricting the issuance, buying, selling, holding and circulation of Cryptocurrency in India during the last ten years and if so, the details thereof?”

Apart from the known circular of April 6, 2018, prohibiting RBI’s regulated entities from dealing in virtual currencies (later set aside by India’s Supreme Court) the answer to question 1 does not reveal any new circular prohibiting the use of cryptocurrencies.

In May, Ajay Seth, a senior government official, had indicated a similar position when addressing questions about India possibly banning cryptocurrency by saying “whatever we do, even if we go to the extreme form, the countries that have chosen to prohibit, they can’t succeed unless there is a global consensus.”

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