Indian Police Join U.S. in the Hunt For BitConnect Scam Mastermind Satish Kumbhani

Police in India have joined US authorities in the search for the wanted mastermind of crypto pyramid scheme, BitConnect.

Back in 2016, a supposedly very “upcoming” and “innovative” crypto platform was launched. Its name was BitConnect. After initially attracting a lot of attention from interested investors who wanted quick and high returns, this particular platform soon spelled trouble for numerous people and made them lose billions of dollars in a well-orchestrated pyramid scheme. 

The scam’s mastermind was an Indian known as Satish Kumbhani, who is now a person of much interest and wanted both in India and the United States.

The scheme worked by promising investors a whooping 10% ROI to be promptly paid out in the platform’s own token known as BCC (BitConnect). Users had to send in their investments in the form of Bitcoin (BTC). 

However, just like how the rest of pyramid schemes work, a lot of people ended up losing all their money when the mastermind disappeared with the stash of Bitcoins invested by the users.

How India Got Involved

However, until recently, Indian police hadn’t joined the search for the top fraudster. That seems to have changed now. This happened after an investor complained to the police, revealing that he had lost about 220 BTC in the scheme after being convinced by Satish and his cronies to invest 54 BTC and get 166 BTC as ROI.

In February, US authorities filed a case against Satish and his group of scammers and launched a manhunt for him. The mastermind went into hiding. US law enforcement has been on the hunt for him ever since. Now, it seems that their job has been made easier after their Indian counterparts joined the hunt.

As of now, US authorities have liquidated property belonging to Satish and worth $56 million to compensate victims of his scam art. If caught and convicted, Satish Kumbhani faces up to 70 years in jail. 

As reported by The Crypto Basic, it appears that crypto-related scams are still a thorn in the flesh of the industry. Some of them have attempted to involve some popular cryptos known in the market. 

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