Indian authorities have made 5 arrests in connection to the Torres MLM Ponzi scheme.
Torres was a jewellery themed MLM crypto Ponzi concentrating on Indians. The rip-off seems to have collapsed within the lead as much as Christmas 2024.
Torres’ Ponzi ruse was sham jewellery shops arrange in India tied to Ukrainian scammers.
In case you haven’t heard of Torres earlier than you’re not alone, I hadn’t both. However the enterprise mannequin instantly jogged my memory of Cancri Jewellery, an MLM Ponzi BehindMLM reviewed in 2022.
The unique Cancri Jewellery Ponzi collapsed in late 2022 simply earlier than Christmas. Final we checked in, there was an tried Cancri Jewellery reboot in early 2023.
Torres launched in April 2023, evidently shortly after Canrci’s tried reboot failed.
Seems the identical scammers behind Cancri Jewellery are behind Torres. In addition they ran B2B Jewellery, one other clone that focused Ukraine.
I can’t verify but when I needed to guess, Cancri Jewellery attracted a big sufficient Indian investor base. When Cancri Jewellery’s reboot collapsed, the scammers figured it was price launching beneath a unique identify to focus on India particularly.
In an try to save lots of himself CEO Tausif Reyaz (proper), an Indian nationwide, turned whistleblower after Torres collapsed.
As reported by Mid-Day on January tenth;
[Reyaz] asserts he alerted the companies involved on January 4, submitting detailed paperwork and proof exposing the continuing fraud as quickly as he found it.
Following the arrest of three people by the Shivaji Park police, an 182-page whistleblower report surfaced, alleging that the fraud was orchestrated by the identical individuals behind the 2019 Ukraine and Russia B2B jewelry rip-off.
[Reyaz] alleged that Torres operates a Ponzi scheme beneath the guise of a jewelry enterprise, involving monetary irregularities akin to tax evasion, extreme money expenditures, and potential cash laundering in Torres rip-off.
He said that the scheme mirrors the fraudulent practices of B2B Jewelry (Ukraine) and Cancri Jewelry (Turkey), run by the identical people.
So far as I can inform Reyaz is a typical Boris CEO. Russian and Ukrainian scammers usually use actors with fictional names to play executives. Reyaz appears silly sufficient to have used his actual identify.
As of January tenth, 2025, Indian authorities had arrested:
- Valentina Ganesh Kumari, a Russian nationwide
- Taniya Xasatova (aka Tazagul Khasatova), an Uzbekistan nationwide and
- Ashok Surve, an indian nationwide
Olena Stoian and Victoria Kovalenko, Ukrainian nationals, have been cited as wished suspects and key Torres insiders.
On January twenty first Indian authorities secured Interpol blue nook notices on eight Ukrainian nationals and one Turkish nationwide.
As reported by Indian Specific on January twenty second;
Police have issued blue nook discover in opposition to suspected mastermind Olena Stoian, director of Platinum Hern Pvt Ltd that runs Torres, Victoria Kovalenko, Mustafa Karakoc, Oleksandr Borovyk, Oleksandr Zapichenko, Oleksandra Brunkivska, Oleksandra Tredokhib, Artem Oliferchuk and Iurchenko Igor.
Mustafa Karakoc is a Turkish nationwide whereas the remaining are Ukrainians, an EOW officer mentioned.
Between January tenth and twenty first Indian authorities additionally arrested Alpesh Khara. Khara is tied to the laundering of Rs. 2 billion in tether (USDT) out of India (~$23 million USD).
On January twenty seventh, Indian authorities introduced they’d arrested CEO Tausif Reyaz.
Whole Torres losses are pegged at Rs. 10 billion (~$115 million USD), stolen from round 125,000 traders.
Outdoors of the 2 insiders arrested in India, the remainder of the Ukrainian scammers behind the Torres rip-off stay at massive.