BOI Issues Look out Circular against 3 Top Up-line members of STA Token Crypto-Ponzi Scam
Bureau,Odishabarta
Bhubaneswar: On the request of EOW Odisha, Bureau of Immigration issued Look out
Circulars against three top up-line members who are also among the main accused persons in the STA Token Crypto-Ponzi scam.
They are the close associates of Gurtej Singh Sidhu and look after the financial and technical management of the scheme.
They are also top earners and find place in the top hierarchy of the STA Pyramid. It was
ascertained that top up-line members are planning to leave India and flee to Dubai/ Thailand.
1. Krishna kumar, Hanumangarh, Rajasthan.
2. Anil Kumar, Sri-Ganganagar, Rajasthan
3. Bhoora ram, Nagaur, Rajasthan
Earlier LOC was issued against David Gez, a Hungarian national, who is the global head of this scheme/scam. This refer to EOW case no 22/2023 (Previous press notes are attached herewith.)
Further Investigation is on.
Previous Press note (20.08.2023)
Look out Circular issued against David Gez, head of STA Token BOI ( Bureau Of Immigration), on request of EOW Odisha, issued LOC against David Gez, 32, a Hungarian national, who is the head of mega Crypto-Ponzi scam namely STA Token.
He entered with tourist Visa in India for two times in 2022-23 and stayed in India for about 25 days travelling various places like Odisha, Goa, Punjab, Jharkhand and Delhi.
On first time, he had travelled to India via USA and Turkey and second time via Poland. In Odisha, he travelled to Bhubaneswar and Bhadrak.
He has deleted his Instagram account after registration of this case.However his Indian associates are still issuing Youtube Videos using his AI generated picture and voice.
The fact that he was issued with tourist Visa but indulged in business/Promotion activity is not allowed as per rule of Ministry Of External affairs. EOW would be reporting this fact to MEA for necessary action in addition to the legal action in the current case.
The involvement of second foreigner, a Dutch national, in this scam is under scrutiny.
Some topline members of this scam are still indulging in the propaganda (through YouTube, Whatsapp Group etc.) and continuing adding innocent investors below their chain. Their activities are under surveillance and action will be taken against them.
This refers to EOW case no 22/2023 U/S 420/467/468/471/120-B IPC, 4/5/6 of PCMS Act (Previous Press notes attached).
Press note ( 16.08.2023)
EOW arrests one more accused in STA Crypto-Ponzi Scam EOW Odisha today arrested one Ratnakar Palai from Bhubaneswar in the STA Crypto-Ponzi scam. This refers to EOW case no 22/2023, Ratnakar Palai, 45, is an important and up-line member of STA having huge number of members below him (known as down-line members in the MLM/ Pyramid based schemes/scams). He is very close to Gurtej singh and Nirod Das.
He is an M.Tech in IT from Karnataka University, Bangalore and claims to be an international speaker, entrepreneur and investment guru.
He is also propaganda head/ social media influencer of STA in Odisha. He used to run a YouTube channel for wider publicity of this scheme. He is member of some other such dubious scams too which is under scrutiny.
He also runs an institute namely ‘Learn to earn”. However after the arrest of Gurtej and Nirod, he has either deleted or deactivated his social media accounts. He had also visited Goa along with Nirod to participate in STA celebration.
On11.08.2023 In STA Crypto-Ponzi scam , Honorable OPID Court Cuttack has granted 5 more days remand of both the accused i.e. Gurtej Singh sidhu and Nirod Das. Earlier EOW had made a prayer for extension of remand as the case is very complex involving multiple states and huge amount of money.
Accused are needed for examination on various aspects of the scam like-
– Money trail
– Siphoning of money/ Benami transactions/ Money laundering.
– Network in other countries.
– Involvement of NRIs particularly Canada and Dubai based NRIs if any.
– Information about heads of other states and their networking.
– Finance, Organizational and technical management.
– Event and celebrity management.
– Money transaction with David Gez.
– Other top associates/ members of this scam.
– Important You-tubers and Group administrators of Whatsapp groups of this scam
Previous Press Note (07.08.2023)
EOW Odisha unearths the biggest Crypto-Ponzi scam of India EOW arrested the India head of one “STA Crypto token” namely Gurtej Sigh Sidhu, 40, from Sri-Ganganagar, Rajasthan. He is a native of Faridkot, Punjab. He was produced before local court in Sri-
Ganganagar. The court granted 7 days transit remand. He was brought to Odisha and will be produced before OPID Court, Cuttack. He was frequently changing his location in places like Goa, Lonavala, Mumbai,Delhi, Faridkot, bhatinda, Hanumangadh and Sri Ganganagar.
A team of EOW led by DSP Sasmita sahoo was tracking his movement. EOW also arrested one Nirod Das of Bhadrak who is the Odisha head of STA.This refers to EOW case no 22/2023 U/S 420/467/468/471/120-B IPC, 4/5/6 of PCMS Act. After getting intelligence from various sources that a crypto currency based Ponzi scheme/scam is being run in Odisha especially in Bhadrak, Balasore, Bhubaneswar, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur,Kendrapada and Keonjhar districts, an enquiry was conducted.
During enquiry it was found that STA through some up-line members are very active in these districts and they have been using various propaganda tools to persuade people to join in this scheme and earn huge money in a very short time. It was found that members have started using the STA token like a legal tender in their day to day business. It is estimated that more than 10000 people from Odisha have already been members of this scheme. This scheme/scam has more than 2 lakh members (Pan India) mainly in the states like Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Assam. STA (Solar Techno Alliance) was launched in September 2021. In its website & social media accounts it claims to be a “one stop Solar
Technologies service that enables users to order anything they like from the nearest farmers in shortest amount of time using block chain technology”. But during investigation it was noticed that-
1. STA is not authorized by RBI or any other authorities to collect deposits.
2. STA runs a huge Ponzi (MLM/ Pyramid) scheme in the garb of Crypto Token. STA uses the socially popular terms like green energy, solar technology etc. to mask its Crypto-Ponzi scam.
3. STA website is hosted from Iceland but its business/activity is targeted/ limited to India.
4. STA is headed by one David Gez a young Hungarian (Europe) national who has visited India multiple times.
5. Gurtej singh Sidhu is said to have reached the top level of STA’sPyramid structure (Kohinnor leadership in STA language) and he heads/runs the scheme/ scam in India. He also claims to be a Crypto currency expert, MLM Guru, Life coach and a motivational speaker.
6. Both David Gej and Gurtej sidhu have travelled to many places in India including Odisha and have attended various STA Programs.
7. STA conducts several publicity programs at various places to spread its membership. They use fancy hotels, motivational speakers, music, lunch/dinner etc. in such meetings to brainwash future members.
They also run several YouTube channels for publicity and tutoring the new members.
8. Members are promised that they will earn $20 to $3000 per day if they join this scheme and add more members under them.
9. Members get bonus and various royalties for adding new members.
Its leaderships are named like Pearl, Ruby, Emerald, Topaz, Diamond, Pink Diamond, Blue diamond, Black Diamond, The Hope Diamond and Koh-I-Noor depending on the number of down-line members under them and STA coin holdings.
10. Like any other MLM/Ponzi scheme, members initially do get some monetary benefits which tempt them to add more and more members under them.
11. Transactions (credit & debit) of more than Rs 30 crore was noticed in the bank account of Nirod Das, Odisha head of STA.Also there is a huge cash deposits in his accounts which indicates that lots of black money is routed/ parked in this scam.
All the accounts have been frozen.
12. Total money involved (Pan India) in STA is estimated to be more than Rs 1000 Crores.
13. Gurtj and David are always seen/shown using luxurious life style like star hotels, Expensive cars, fancy cloths, surrounded by Bouncers, Hero’s welcome in meeting etc.
14. STA’s members greet each other saying “Jay STA”.
Last week STA had a grand celebration in a luxurious star hotel/ banquet hall in Goa. More than one thousand up-line members including many from Odisha attended this meeting. Film star Govinda was the chief guest of this meeting/ celebration. Govinda also
released some video promoting/endorsing STA.
Advisory to people-
1. All are advised to not to invest their hard earned money in such MLM/Ponzi scheme which shows you the dream of becoming millionaire in unrealistically short time. You may get some initial benefits but ultimately you will use a huge amount.
2. There is plethora of good and legal investment options, peopleshould try them.
3. In such scheme, not only you suffer but you make many others
suffer by adding them as your down-line members.
Advisory to Film stars/ celebrities-
They are advised to check the credentials of the party/company/organization before endorsing/ promoting such scheme/ program.
