It took six years and a shrewd business mind, for Anubhav Mittal to dupe lakhs of investors to the tune of Rs 3700 crore. However, one does not require a huge working capital to set up one's own Ponzi scheme as cyber security experts told this paper that Rs 4000 is all that it takes.
Experts are of the view that setting up your own multi level pyramid aka ponzi scheme just requires an online script, one domain and some
server space all for the price of Rs 4,000 and eventually like a spider weaving it's web, gullible investors are sucked into the scam, they initiate a chain reaction as several other members are roped in the scam.
The inspiration for setting up such a scheme was the brainchild of American company Amway, which pioneered the concept of multi level marketing as the potential customers were targeted and moulded into independent business owners.
Inspired by the successful business model, in 2008, two Indian companies, J.V.G and E. Biz, subverted the business model and set up the first
ponzi scheme.
"They used the business model of Amway and targeted potential customers. They would tell them to keep funneling in money into the company
and would pay them in increments, for every member they added," said Kislay Chaudhary, a cyber crime analyst, who routinely advises the Delhi Police.
The ponzi schemes soon tanked as without any credible client backing the company, the investors money was wiped out.
Ingredients
In the age of the Internet, setting up a ponzi scheme became child's play. One has to initially buy a script, which executes commands without a user interface, for $ 35 or Rs 2352. Then shell out an additional Rs 500 for a domain that will help you get control over the network. And lastly, one must just shell out Rs 1200 to set up a server space and he is all set.
As soon as these steps are taken, a bank account can be opened up free of cost, and get service registration certificate also known as ST2, which is used as an identification proof. It takes a total of 15 days to set up your very own ponzi scheme.
People look at the bank accounts and certificates and believe that the company is real.
They are then induced to invest and are offered attractive packages and monetary benefits. Once the scamsters give you the initial benefits they
rope in their friends and family. Their money is then circulated on a never ending loop.
With the introduction of the work at home culture, people could sit at home and work on a computer performing routine tasks. With many families
buying up computers and internet access went onto provide a fresh pool of investors for scamsters.
The list of jobs include data entry, form verification, insurance verification and Mittal's favourite social media likes trade.
"People buy into such scams easily. You just need 200 people in your scam to make Rs 1 crore.
We have been receiving at least 5 such cases every month. Mittal was caught because of the scale of the scam, many such scams working at a lower level continue to operate," Kislay added.