KOCHI: Many people in Kochi have lost lakhs of rupees in a cryptocurrency investment fraud similar to the one that got busted following the arrest of four persons in Kannur a few days ago. City police have launched a probe into the fraud after they received complaints regarding a gang that was duping people in the city offering high returns on investment in a cryptocurrency promoted by a company called “Morris Coin”. Based on the direction from higher-ups in the department, a case was registered in Kalamassery police station in connection with the fraud.
“Preliminary probe found that the accused collected lakhs of rupees from people offering high returns every five days,” said a police officer. As per the FIR (N. 198/2021), the case was registered against a person identified as Junior K Joshi, 38, from Chirattappalam in Fort Kochi for offences punishable under IPC sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property).
According to the police report submitted before the court opposing the anticipatory bail application by the accused, Joshi had fraudulently made the complainant believe that if the latter invested money in the finance scheme Morris Coin, he would get high returns every five days. Based on the false assurance, the accused collected `1,05,000 from the complainant.
The police said the accused operated in connivance with the promoters of the company and was canvassing people to believe in the Ponzi scheme offered by the company. “The accused received rich dividends for making people join the scheme,” police said. Police officers said the probe will look into whether the accused has any links to those arrested in Kannur. The fraud was committed by offering people Morris Coin.
“Though there is a website called Morris Coin owned by Long Rich Technologies, it does not mention any address or details of the company. The website only provides vague details and is mostly about convincing people to invest in the cryptocurrency,” said an officer. The High Tech Crime Cell is also probing into the activities of the company as it’s suspected many people have lost money. “The economic crisis due to the pandemic and job loss helped the fraudsters to dupe people who were looking for an alternate source of income,” said a senior police officer.