Anubhav Mittal has been rechristened 'Mark Zuckerberg of India' by his followers whereas Noida STF and those who have been duped by the internet scam describe him a scamster.
Thousands of his supporters gathered at Jantar Mantar on Sunday as they claimed that their additional source of income and chance to promotetheir business has been snuffed out. However, Noida STF has received thousands of complaints as investors went into a panic mode, believingthat their hard-earned money has been wiped out.
The 'Zuckerberg' of India
Thousands of angry protestors with 'Anubhav Mittal Zindabad' slogans plastered across their shirts, gathered around the protest site beating their chests and mourning the arrest of their hero - Anubhav Mittal. Borrowing a line from Mani Ratnam's movie Guru, His supporters boomed at the audience: "Do you want Social Trade to become the largest company in India?" The investors replied with a thundering applause.
"If Mark Zuckerberg was born in India, he would have been arrested today. What Mittal did was what Facebook and Google are doing. He is promoting several companies including our small scale businesses and we get paid for it. If we approach Facebook, we would be ignored, but Mittal gave us a platform," said Deepal Nayak, an investor.
Many of his supporters comprised of people who had come from Punjab, Rajasthan, Kolkata and Uttar Pradesh. They told this paper that they had always received their payments, and had never been given cash payments.
Many of them claimed that the transaction was backed by original identifications, and that with his arrest all future entrepreneur would be
deterred.
Mittal had constructed a 'Ferris Wheel' in which he would take money from the investors to fund the 'likes' for trading ponzi scheme. After startinghis company in 2010, Mittal had a mercurial rise as after a slow start with an income of Rs 4 lakh, he soon had Rs 26 crore in his bank account in 2016.
Investigators said that he had circulated all the money received from investors and instead of reporting it to RBI and other agencies, he would circulate the money like on a Ferris Wheel and soon had so much money that he started to organise celebrity parties. However, demonetisation gave the company a major body blow, as he was unable to pay his investors after which the case came to light.
The Ferris Wheel came down when the note ban was announced on November 8. The next month, the investors who had hitherto received payments stopped receiving them. "I was told by my brother–in-law to invest in the company. Initially, I had received the money, but in January, I stopped getting them. They updated on their page that the site was going through an upgrade," said Fahim, a property dealer.
Riswan, an employee with a private firm had been investing for the past four months. "I have invested Rs 5 lakh and would receive my money. But then it stopped all of a sudden and I got no reply whatsoever."
Jayan, a father of two, had recommended the company to all his family members and now regrets the move. "I was enticed by the fact that just clicking on links would get me money. I now regret getting my family in the scheme. I want the strictest action to be taken against Mittal."