Plus Gold Union Coin that was promoted as a new ‘hybrid’ crypto coin with rosy growth prospects to Indian Australians in Sydney and Melbourne operated mostly in cash with many investors asked not to pay through bank transfers.
Indian migrant Pranad Ranadibe who was introduced to the scheme by a friend invested $11,000 in two installments – he was asked to pay cash both times.
“I was initially reluctant to invest but when I finally agreed, I was told to pay $7,400 in cash as the processing would be faster. The second time when I invested bought more coins and I paid $3,700, again cash,” Mr Ranadibe told SBS Punjabi.
Another Indian migrant Rajiv Sharma invested a total of $52,000 between May 2017 and March 2018. He says he was asked to pay in cash for a large part of his investment.
“I didn’t think much of it because, at that time, we hadn’t even imagined that our investment in the coins was going to come to a naught,”Mr Sharma said.
The Sydney bus driver said he had even delivered cash to his promoter’s house “in the middle of the night” after finishing his shift.
“Once I made a bank transfer but had to cancel it because the promoter said he would accept only cash. I had to go to his house at 1:30 am and pay him the money,” Mr Sharma told SBS Punjabi.
Jayesh Zanjhe – an Australia Post postie – says he invested $14,000 in the scheme and got many of his friends to invest as well.
Rajiv Sharma (left) and Jayesh Zanjhe, both lost thousands of dollars they invested in PGUC. Source: Supplied
“My investment was for a three-month term. But when I asked out after the maturity, I was lured into reinvesting. When the second term ended, the promoters kept delaying cashing my coins and then the value suddenly collapsed in February 2018,” he said.
“By the end of 2018, my investment was worth nothing and no one could even see the coins or access the website.”
The PGUC was promoted to investors in a pyramid style marketing, with seminars and presentations held to small gatherings of friends and relatives. The promoters claimed it was a European company with a background in precious metals trade and operated out of Hong Kong.
PGUC marketing material. Source: PGUC
However, the Indian police claim it was a sham cryptocurrency, that operated out of Jabalpur, a city in Central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The police have registered a criminal case against two men for allegedly masterminding this scheme.
“Our preliminary investigation shows that it was a fake digital currency which had no value. The investors were lured into it by false promises of high growth – doubling even trebling their money within a matter of months,” Gitesh Garg, Superintendent of Police, Special Task Force investigating the case told SBS Punjabi.
Mr Garg Said they have so far received complaints from twenty people most of whom paid in cash to invest in the coins. He said any NRIs (Non-resident Indians) who may have lost money in this scheme should contact the Special Task Force of the MP Police.
Media reports in India estimated the losses of investors to the tune of $20 million.
In Australia, a group of 67 investors has approached the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, the ATO and the AFT, besides sending a complaint to the Prime Minister’s Office in India.
In the complaint, the group has also named people who allegedly promoted this cryptocurrency in Australia. One of those named as a promoter denied he was the promoter and said he merely “helped” people with the technical aspect of it and claimed he himself lost his investment of $15,000.
“It was a risk that everyone was made aware of right in the beginning. If they did not understand the risk, it’s their fault,” he told SBS Punjabi.
The ASIC said it was in receipt of the complaint but declined to comment whether it was investigating the matter.
