The Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) of Odisha State Crime Branch in India is investigating a company named Solar Techno Alliance (STA) Token. This company is reported to be the organizer behind a pan-India cryptocurrency scam worth 10 billion Indian Rupees. The police have arrested the company's investment advisor and financial advisor on charges of fraud.
The accused, Ratnakar Palai, aged 45, who holds a master's degree in Information Technology (IT) from Karnataka University, was confirmed by EOW as the mastermind. Palai resided in a affluent area of Bhubaneswar known as Jayadev Vihar and was closely associated with Gurtej Singh Sidhu and Nirrod Das, who were also arrested on August 7th.
Palai had been operating a YouTube channel in which he portrayed himself as an investment guru and promoted the illegal business operations of STA Token. Recently, after the arrests of Sidhu and Das, who were the top executives of STA Token, Palai closed down his YouTube channel and other social media accounts.
JN Pankaj, the Inspector General of EOW, stated that Palai had attracted a large number of investors from Odisha and Jharkhand to invest in STA Token. The police claim that Palai was an important upline member of STA Token, with a substantial number of downline members (referred to as downline members in MLM or network marketing). The STA Token company attracted people to invest in cryptocurrency through social media and encouraged them to recruit more investors. To build their network, STA Token had member incentive measures, and the interest and bonus scale of members depended on the number of investors they brought in.
"Palai was very close to Sidhu and Das in the scam. He portrayed himself as an international speaker, entrepreneur, and investment guru. He was also the public relations officer of STA Token in Odisha and a social media influencer," said Inspector General JN Pankaj.
A few days ago, EOW found that a Dutch citizen was also involved in this scam.
