Amresh Parab
Panaji
Several Goans have reportedly lost crores of rupees to a ponzy-like forex scheme reportedly run by one Navab alias Lavish Chaudhary (currently operating from Dubai) along with his two associates based in Goa.
Investors were promised assured monthly high returns through purported forex trading scheme. Several of these investors have now approached the economic offences cell (EOC) of the Goa Police requesting to register an FIR and conduct a thorough probe.
The forex scam is not only limited to Goa. There have been FIRs registered in other parts of the country by the police; the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also conducting investigations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
As per the police, Chaudhary is the mastermind behind the scam.
Sources said the accused allegedly operated a multi-level marketing scheme called ‘Botbro’, promising high returns through artificial intelligence bots for forex trading. The complainants said the Goa associates of Chaudhary introduced the Botbro system, touting it as a forex trading platform accessible via botbro.biz, adding that the henchmen also promoted Trillioner Coin (TLC).
It was promoted as number one crypto project in India since April 2023. At every meeting, the henchmen announced that Chaudhary is the CMD, and that the scheme held the sixth rank globally and number one in India among crypto leaders.
Often this update was presented live on internet at the meetings, the complainants told the EOC.
In the early months of 2024, the associates of Chaudhary started conducting promotional meetings. “They aggressively propa-gated the theory that the system was not multi-level marketing.”
“They also promised that the new investors would yield superior rewards on their investments,” stated the complainants.
The investors said profits were promised on a monthly 70%-30% split – 70% of profits going to the investor and 30% to the company.
Additionally, investors would receive TLC coins as a complimentary airdrop.
The assurance of the scheme was that only 10% of the invested capital would be utilised for trading, with the remaining 90% guaranteed safe and available for withdrawal at any time within first six months of registration and 100% guaranteed withdrawals, if required, after six months.
