The National Crypto scam exposed by Republic TV has had a huge impact on thousands of honest Indians whose hard-earned money was allegedly being scammed by fintech apps. The apps, which are said to have received funds from China and Hong Kong, took advantage of people’s vulnerabilities when the COVID-19 pandemic brought everything to a halt. They sanctioned people for instant loans at very high interest rates and quickly recovered the money through intimidation tactics. Fintech firms illegally parked a large chunk of profits in offshore accounts through cryptocurrency exchanges, hurting the economy.
Speaking to Republic TV about the financial disclosure, journalist and BJP member Savio Rodrigues said, “What matters most is the connection to China with these particular lending apps. In August 2020, there was a gentleman named Luo Sang who was under investigation by the ED on the scanner. At this point, he took the name of Charlie Peng, who was posing as a citizen of Manipur. He had PAN card and Aadhaar card and established 4 companies in India. You have these people who come from China and have Aadhaar cards and PAN cards. They founded companies here.”
He claimed the scam was worth more than Rs.1000 crore, adding: “During COVID time when people didn’t have access to money they went through these online apps to get loans. They started taking a lot of money from these apps not realizing that most of these connections were in China. A trillion dollars is just the tip of the iceberg. I personally see this as a scam worth over Rs 10,000-15,000. in the area of lending apps and cryptocurrencies. The problem is that at this time they are not subject to any regulatory authority and there is no specific attempt to crack down on such illegal means of lending and harassment.”
Supreme Court Attorney NS Nappinai also commented on this scam, emphasizing the need for RBI to take corrective action on the matter as it is believed consumers are not well informed. She said: “Criminals have been very innovative in taking advantage of the financial crisis that people are going through. And we have seen many different financial scams. This is by far the worst.”
The founder of the Cyber Saathi Foundation remarked: “This is not just about taking people’s money or scamming them, but also harassing and intimidating them into taking away their personal information, their privacy and their dignity. And threatening them with the same data they’re siphoning off victims’ devices is truly unacceptable. This is where RBI needs to act.” She also called for formulating simple remedial actions that harmed customers can take advantage of.
Here is how social media reacted to the National Crypto scam:
Crypto is the new age fund inflow source for anti-India activities. Since the ban on NGOs and shell companies and the FCRA amendment, anti-India elements have been struggling to raise funds. I’m glad the government hasn’t legalized crypto in India. #NationalCryptoScam
— ऋग्वेदोथ यजुर्वेदो सामवेदो ह्याथवर्वणः (@bharatheeya70) August 12, 2022
Some US giants had warned that the crypto bubble was about to burst, although many in the media painted a rosy picture as Bitcoin surged in value. These fears turned out to be true. #nationalcryptoscam
— Shweta Sharma (@AshutoshwetaG) August 12, 2022
#NationalCryptoScam 10 CRYPTO EXCHANGE are below @dir_ed Scanner, the scam is estimated at around 1000cr but it is just a tip from ICEBERG, now Chinese Angel is coming out, very soon GOI will do everything possible to ban CRYPTO and people who invested in CRYPTO will suffer FINANCIAL LOSS have to.
— Jenish Padaria (@jenishpadaria) August 12, 2022
