They began arriving at my workplace in dribs and drabs, anxious faces clutching screenshots of vanished investments and receipts now rendered ineffective. Some had been offended, others hopeful however all bore the hole eyes of sleepless nights. Initially, I assumed these had been mere disputes—an funding gone dangerous or a civil transaction disrupted. However as I listened, a grim sample emerged: the identical names, the identical promise of assured returns, and digital dashboards displaying income that nobody may withdraw.
This was no unusual criticism. Beneath the glamorous discourse of cryptocurrency and enterprise alternatives lay a colossal rip-off. Since 2020, the accused had spun a posh net of glittering companies promising easy, astronomical returns by means of crypto. Buyers had been lured not solely by the income but additionally by commissions for recruiting others—a traditional pyramid scheme wearing digital finery. Grand promotional occasions in five-star motels celebrated supposed success tales, full with visuals of luxurious automobiles and in a single day riches. The whole edifice was nothing greater than a mirage constructed with meticulous deceit. When it collapsed, it left behind defunct web sites and absconding masterminds who had enriched themselves by tons of of crores.
What struck me most was not simply the size however the attain of the fraud. Among the many victims had been dozens of police constables from a neighboring state, males as soon as entrusted with regulation enforcement. Many had taken voluntary retirement to speculate, seduced by simple cash, solely to unwittingly turn into brokers of the identical deceit. In our investigation, we invoked the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes (BUDS) Act, 2019—utilized for the primary time in Punjab—seizing properties value ₹25 crore as ill-gotten beneficial properties amassed on shattered desires. Behind each determine was a narrative of misplaced belief, of folks believing prosperity could possibly be purchased with a click on.
This episode is much from remoted. It cuts throughout socioeconomic strata and academic backgrounds. It displays our instances—the place greed meets gullibility, and expertise serves as the proper confederate. In immediately’s hyperconnected world, scams not conceal in darkish alleys however arrive by means of glowing screens, cloaked within the promise of fast prosperity. Funding frauds, crypto traps, mortgage app cons, social media “like and earn” schemes, faux film ranking duties, and on-line survey scams—all thrive on one common vulnerability: our willingness to imagine wealth might be conjured out of skinny air. From faux buying and selling platforms to counterfeit job gives, digital con artists now converse the language of alternative, adorned in legitimacy.
In response to the Nationwide Crime Data Bureau (NCRB) 2023 report, 68.9% of cybercrimes goal monetary deception—together with faux funding schemes, buying and selling apps, and crypto platforms—amounting to just about 59,526 of 86,420 instances recorded.
Victims are not often careless; they’re hopeful. An octogenarian retired Military colonel got here to me, head bowed, accompanied by his daughter who solely realized after he misplaced Rs 50 lakh to a ‘film ranking’ rip-off emanating from a Telegram group he joined by means of a misleading Facebook message. He thought he was correctly investing time to earn simple cash. However there isn’t any free lunch on-line, solely baited hooks. The phantasm of easy wealth has turn into essentially the most potent weapon in a cybercriminal’s arsenal. On this digital jungle, it isn’t at all times the least educated who fall prey, however usually these assured they’re too sensible to be deceived.
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The lesson is pressing and easy—confirm earlier than investing, query earlier than clicking, and by no means imagine guarantees that appear too good. Even these skilled to implement the regulation are disarmed by the glamour of greed, as seen within the crypto pyramid scheme instances. The web allows each fortune-makers and felons alike. The strongest protection is not only a firewall or password, however consciousness.
We will hint accounts, seize property, and arrest masterminds, however no regulation can management the fundamental human temptation to imagine in fast riches. Earlier than clicking a hyperlink or forwarding a ‘too good to overlook’ supply, pause. If wealth was that simple to get, everybody could be wealthy by now.
One sufferer quietly advised me earlier than leaving, Pehle akal gayi si, paise taan baad vich gaye, Madam. (I misplaced my sense first, Madam, the cash got here later.) That line has haunted me ever since.
(The author is a Punjab-cadre IPS officer)
