The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) declaration of cryptocurrency as an illegal tender has led to the shut down of several crypto related services in the country. Based on a recent report, this move by the RBI has been justified, at least to some extent, through the exposure and crumbling of sketchy crypto related businesses. In light of this, an Indian based cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme— Ambidant Marketing and Investment, which is claiming to be a Sharia-compliant investment company has been exposed. The exposure of this business was triggered as a result of the ban from the RBI.
Ambidant Marketing and Investment Company
A report made it known that the Ponzi scheme, Ambidant Marketing and Investment Company, was run by, Syed Fareed and Syed Afaq Ahmed. This two have been reported to be father and son.
The report made it known that the two used the promise of Halal investments alongside misused Ulemas(Islamic theology scholars) to entice Muslims into investing in their “Sharia-compliant investment program”. This way the father and son duo get to bring in a huge amount of money from otherwise conservative investors.
Unrealistic High Returns
The investors were promised a return of up to 50 percent on every investment made.
Based on a recent report, Ambidant Marketing and Investment Company has failed to inform its investors, that their money is being invested in cryptocurrency.
Initially, the company was able to pay back its investors. However as time went on, the company started reducing its payout percentage. The percentage went from 50% to 11% within a short period. The final layout made by the company was 9 percent and it did that in January 2018.
RBI’s declaration
Since the RBI’s declaration of bitcoin as an “illegal tender”, India’s Enforcement Directorate which oversees financial law enforcement which has been monitoring the activities of Ambidant Investment for quite some time, along with about 4,000 companies was able to sweep into a full-scale investigation of the company before shutting it down
Based on a statement released from India’s Enforcement Directorate, it was said that:
“During the investigation, it came to the fore that the scheme run by the company is surely a potential Ponzi scheme. In view of the above, ED has written to the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) to have another look into the matter and protect the interest of the investors/depositors at large who are being duped in the name of Islamic banking/halal investment.”