The ‘Ponzi scheme’ linked to cryptocurrency has been carried out by a Chinese couple together with a Sri Lankan citizen from 2020, Police Spokesman SSP Nihal Thalduwa said.
Speaking to the media yesterday (27), he said over 8000 Sri Lankan are suspected to have fallen victim to the scam.
Investigations have revealed that over Rs. 14 billion has been defrauded up to date with some having invested large sums of money.
The suspects had engaged in discussions with potential investors at various five-star hotels in Colombo and convinced them to engage in the pyramid scheme fraud.
The suspects had created a special application for the scheme which showed investors almost five times the profit of their investments in cryptocurrency, but they are unable to enjoy the profits.
The Sri Lankan citizen and Chinese couple had obtained the investments in their hands and not via bank transactions, he said.
The Police spokesman said however, the financial transactions had been shown on the system of the special application.
SSP Nihal Thalduwa further said that the Sri Lankan citizen, Shamal Keerthi Bandara, who was arrested over the ‘Ponzi Scheme’ has been released on bail.
The Chinese couple had been arrested while attempting to free Sri Lanka and were taken into custody at the Katunayake airport in September, he added. (NewsWire)