Indian authorities have intensified their investigation into the GainBitcoin scam, a fraudulent scheme that allegedly duped investors out of ₹6,600 crore (around $800 million).
According to a February 25 statement, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches at 60 locations across the country, including Delhi NCR, Pune, Chandigarh, Kolhapur, Nanded, and Bengaluru.
The CBI has consolidated multiple complaints filed in various states, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, and West Bengal, into a single case. The agency stated that its goal is to identify all those involved, recover misappropriated funds, and examine international transactions linked to the scheme.
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Additionally, authorities seized digital evidence such as emails, cloud storage data, and cryptocurrency wallets during the raids.
GainBitcoin was launched in 2015 by Amit Bhardwaj and his brother Ajay Bhardwaj under the company Variabletech Pte. Ltd. The scheme promised investors a 10% monthly return in Bitcoin
$86,098.57
through “cloud mining contracts”. It operated as a multi-level marketing (MLM) model, where participants earned commissions for bringing in new investors.
Initially, investors received payouts in Bitcoin, but as the scheme started collapsing in 2017, GainBitcoin switched to MCAP, its own cryptocurrency, which had a lower value. This change left many investors unable to recover their money.
In March 2022, the Supreme Court of India ordered Ajay Bhardwaj to disclose access details for his late brother’s cryptocurrency wallets. The court emphasized that this information was key to understanding the full scale of the fraud and tracking the missing funds.
Meanwhile, Norwegian authorities recently charged four men in connection with an $87 million crypto Ponzi scheme. How did the case go? Read the full story.
