Anubhav Mittal, known for orchestrating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded people of INR 3.7 billion online, was seen as an idol by many. Satyendra Verma, caught in a INR 500 crore scam, also followed Mittal's ideas, earning INR 2.6 billion within just four months.
On the directives of SSP Noida, Sandesh Verma and Anuj Garg, who were arrested, had established their online venture called Social Trade in a mere four months. Like Mittal, they deceived the public to gather funds and later used that money to pay users for merely clicking links.
According to the police, Sandesh Verma allied with his real estate partner Anurag Garg and in September last year launched Web Work Trade Links Private Limited under the name of Social Trade Company. They also created a fake website named www.addsbook.com to further their deception.
Their website misled people into believing multiple companies booked ads with them, yet no such transactions were genuine on www.addsbook.com. All links sent to publishers were unauthorized. Despite this, in a short span, they amassed approximately 40,000 clients, securing 69,000 IDs.
Much like Mittal's company, these clients were merely link recipients without generating significant profits. Funds from clients were redistributed as payments under the guise of likes and clicks.
Remarkably, within four months, Sandesh and Anuj collected about INR 2.07 billion. They initially bought luxury BMW and Mercedes cars and paid INR 120 million in TDS and INR 50 million in service tax.
To maintain investor trust, they returned INR 1.41 billion. Subsequently, they bought office space in Noida Sector 2 for INR 67.5 million. They also paid actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui INR 10 million for endorsements. Another INR 70 million was spent on ads and company expenses.
Overall, police have frozen assets worth INR 4.4 billion belonging to them. Fascinatingly, Sandesh Verma learned the ins and outs of the social trading game from the ultimate player, Anubhav Mittal. He became not just a mentor but a source of inspiration for Sandesh.
