Bhubaneswar, Aug 7: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has unearthed the biggest crypto-ponzi scam of India and arrested the India head “STA Crypto token’.
The accused Gurtej Sigh Sidhu (40) was arrested from Ganganagar in Rajasthan. He was frequently changing his location in places like Goa, Lonavala, Mumbai, Delhi, Faridkot, Bhatinda, Hanumangadh and Sri Ganganagar.
The investigating agency has also arrested Nirod Das, the Odisha head of STA. After getting intelligence from various sources that a cryptocurrency-based Ponzi scheme is being run in Odisha, especially in Bhadrak, Balasore, Bhubaneswar, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Keonjhar districts, an enquiry was conducted.
“During the inquiry, it was found that STA through some upline members are very active in these districts and they have been using various propaganda tools to persuade people to join in this scheme and earn huge money in a very short time. It was found that members have started using the STA token as a legal tender in their day-to-day business. It is estimated that more than 10000 people from Odisha have already been members of this scheme. This scheme has more than 2 lakh members in India \including states like Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Assam.
STA (Solar Techno Alliance) was launched in September 2021. In its website and social media accounts it claims to be a one-stop solar technologies service that enables users to order anything they like from the nearest farmers in the shortest amount of time using blockchain technology.
“STA website is hosted from Iceland but its business and activity is targeted to India. STA is headed by one David Gez a young Hungarian (Europe) national who has visited India multiple times. Gurtej Singh Sidhu is said to have reached the top level of STA’s pyramid structure and he was running the scheme in India. Both Gej and Sidhu have travelled to many places in India including Odisha and have attended various STA programmes,” said an official.
