Another Ponzi scheme was unearthed in Bengaluru after a private investment firm was booked by the city police for allegedly defrauding its investors.
The scam was run under the name of Himmel Advisory in RT Nagar, a Muslim dominated locality which had also previously seen the Ambidant corporate fraud. The firm had lured in investors by promising 15-20 percent returns on their investments.
The fraudulent Himmel Advisory was run by Naziya Sirajuddin and her brother Mohsin Kamal Sirajuddin at a building in Thimmaiah Garden. The RT Nagar police have booked the owners of the company, who are now absconding. An investor identified as Naushad had filed a complaint against the firm for its fraudulent business.
Naushad is a resident of New Gurappanapalya and had invested Rs 4 lakh in Himmel in January after the firm promised him 40 percent returns. After not receiving any returns, the investor had asked the firm to return his money. Following this, the accused had threatened to murder him as they had ties with several goons in the city.
He found the company office shut when he had recently gone there. The phone numbers of the accused were also switched off.
According to reports, Himmel Advisory is a Limited Liability Partnership firm incorporated on 22 September 2018. The company's designated partners are Nazia, Shahid Pasha, Yaseen Syed and Dawood Azeem Khan. They used to lure investors by claiming that they could win cars and residential plots if they achieved certain targets set by the firm.
The business model was similar to that of I Monetary Advisory (IMA) Ponzi scheme. Nazia had told the investors that their money will be used for various businesses, such as bullion trading and share market among others. The money was also used to generate revenue at Mohsin's company M2Mbeez Pvt Ltd.
The firm returned the guaranteed amount the first few times to gain the investors' trust so that they can get more people from their friends and family to invest in Himmel. But later the company started delaying the payments.
It is yet to be ascertained how many people have invested in Himmel. The total amount of investments has also not been uncovered yet. The police have issued a lookout notice against the absconders and are investigating the fraud.
