The making of a crypto scam

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Layout the bait

Launch a coin with a lucrative returns plan
That is exactly what scammers in India did. They launched a coin called Morris Coin a fake cryptocurrency.

The lure

Invest into the crypto and earn 1.8 to 3% or more a day returns.

This indeed became a point of attraction for the investors who have been facing a lot of economic slow down and if one goes via the conventional banking route would need to keep the money in the bank for more than a month to get that kind of returns.

In the end the lure of easy passive money seemed good investment to many.

Spread the word

The scammers used glitzy events to attract investors. Apart from this they used social media advertising and youtube videos to spread the news about the fake crypto income opportunity.
Whatsapps as a means of advertising
People got messages on whatspp messenger that if they invested Rs 15000 (a bit under $200) they would be getting Rs270 every day for 300 days and 15 Morris Coin crypto were Rs 1500 (10% of the investment value) on each investment they made.

Lure agents with hefty commissions

For the agents there was a 10 to 30% commission for getting customers who invested.

Build a MLM network of investors

In the end it was a multilevel marketing kind of network that got built fast and covered a wide range of people.

The lure of listing gains

The word was spread that the coins would be listed on Franc Exchange an exchange based in the city of Coimbatore and give the investors handsome returns on listing.

The scammers

Apparently a 31 year old person by the name of Nishad along with his accomplice was behind the scam. He meticulously build the scheme to dupe the investors.

The failed promises

The listing never happened and this irked the investors . As the scammer siphoned money of the tune of Rs1200 crores rupees that works to around 150874080 USD

The payments to the investors stopped because at the end of the day the project was nothing but a pack of cards which eventually had to fall.
As there was not project to support or generate any income.
Though there was an initial promise to issue ATM cards to the investors so that they could withdraw their investments but that too was never to happen as expected.
In the end the investors approached the police and the case got escalated and the culprits got nabbed.

The red flags

Before investing in crypto or any other scheme look for the viability of the project.

• Check and double check the documents and white papers
• Do the background check on promoters of such schemes
• Try to do an analysis as to from where are the funds going to come to pay out the dividends/returns to the investors.
• Good Defi projects can give you good returns however doing due diligence is important.
• Do not jump into such schemes with all you hard earned money as mostly they end up being high risk and no returns.
  The promoters eat up your capital and vanish.

My concluding thoughts

In the end scams are scams be it targeting your crypto or fiat money. They tend to gain your trust so that you over look the obvious red flags.
Make greed overtake conventional wisdom and logic.

Money is easier lost but hard to earn.Stay safe and keep your Crypto/ Money safe