🌎 India Cracks Down on Emollient Coin Founders in Crypto Scam

India’s Enforcement Directorate has initiated a search operation targeting the founders of Emoillent Coin, a suspicious cryptocurrency that promised investors significant returns. Reports indicate that 2,508 investors in India lost a total of 7,343,6267 INR (approximately $890,000) while hoping to profit from the cryptocurrency craze.

The fraudulent coin, marketed under the name “Emollient Coin Limited,” attracted users by offering returns of up to 40% for locking their investments for ten months. Additionally, it promoted a multi-level referral scheme, rewarding up to 7% in commissions for bringing in more users.

Referral schemes of this nature are common in multi-level marketing scams, which rely on the continuous recruitment of members under the guise of investing in a promising but non-existent project. Once enough participants are involved, the scammers typically disappear with the funds.

In the case of Emollient Coin, the scheme was operated through a mobile application. Funds were solicited via bank transfers, cryptocurrency exchanges, and even direct cash payments. The scammers leveraged the popularity of Bitcoin (BTC) to persuade users to invest.

Emollient Coin Limited, which had a local office but falsely claimed to be based in London, was led by a man named Henry Maxwell. The scam, active from 2017 to 2019, involved the accused dissolving the fraudulent company deliberately, leaving investors with significant losses. The Enforcement Directorate alleges that the stolen funds were used to acquire land assets.

Following multiple complaints filed in 2020 with the Additional District Magistrate in Leh, a northern Indian town where the scam was centered, India’s law enforcement agency launched a search operation. The accused — A R Mir, Ajay Kumar Choudhary, and two other promoters — face charges of defrauding numerous individuals. Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the ED has seized the offices and assets linked to the scheme.

India has experienced numerous crypto-related scams in recent years. In late June, law enforcement in Hyderabad launched an investigation into the Max crypto trading Ponzi scheme, which defrauded at least 50 investors out of $200,000. During the same month, the ED froze $3.83 million in cash and other assets tied to the Highrich online group, suspected of operating a similar scheme under the guise of crypto investments. In May, the agency cracked down on the “E-nugget” scam, which collected over $10 million from victims by posing as a gaming platform.

India’s Financial Intelligence Unit has previously expressed concerns about the potential misuse of cryptocurrency exchanges for money laundering. Crypto-based service providers in the country are required to register with FIU-India and comply with the PMLA Act.