MADURAI: Director General of Police (DGP) Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal on Monday transferred six cases related to the alleged FQL Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)-cum-cryptocurrency trading fraud, believed to be worth Rs 400 crore, to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) even as the number of complaints increased to 40,000 on Monday.
According to a release from the DGP’s office, the alleged fraud took place across Madurai, Virudhunagar, Dindigul, and Sivaganga districts over the past seven months. An agency allegedly operated fraudulent schemes under the names FQL Investment Trading”, “FQL Exchange App” and “VG Investment Group Syndicate.”
Preliminary investigation revealed that agents induced people to invest via cash and G-Pay/UPI transactions. A portion of the funds was allegedly converted into Tether (USDT) and credited to FQL/VG wallets. Subsequently, withdrawals failed, and investors’ balances became inaccessible, and they were asked to make additional payments. The application was later shut down.
Based on complaints received from victims across the four districts, police registered six cases - three in Madurai and one each in Dindigul, Virudhunagar, and Sivaganga. As of Monday evening, 17 people were arrested, and 13 bank accounts linked to the suspects were frozen.
It further stated that the cases were transferred to the EOW considering the alleged roles of suspects, extent of the network, the inter-district nature of the fraud, and financial losses. The involvement of cryptocurrency transactions, including USDT and Binance wallets, as well as suspected international linkages, was also cited as reasons for transferring the cases for a systematic and in-depth investigation.
CPI(ML) Madurai district secretary K Meiyyar demanded that the government constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the scam instead of transferring the cases to the EOW.
(Duped investors can file complaints in their jurisdictional police station or through helpline 1930 and cybercrime portal)
