in September 2020 when one of the victims complained to local police in the Indian province of Kerala. The complaint pertained to ‘Morris Coin Investment Plan 300 days’, and the kingpin of the fraud, Nishad K, was arrested and later granted bail.
The police at that time could not realize the full magnitude of the fraud. After his bail, Nishad became traceless and reportedly left the country. ED, in its bid to trace him, has attached his properties in India.In November 2021, the police arrested seven people after completing their investigation and realizing that 31-year-old Nishad had duped at least 900 investors to the tune of $160 million.
They were working as collection agents and conduits for Nishad, and their bank account details showed that they would transfer Rs 90-100 crore to different accounts associated with Nishad. The police found out that the money collected purportedly as investments in the ICO of Morris Coin, a non-existent digital coin, was diverted to shell companies and invested in real estate, among other immovable assets.
ED investigations have so far revealed that investors were asked to invest Rs 15,000 for 10 Morris Coins, which will have a 300-day lock-in period. During that time, investors will receive returns of 3% per month. Once the coin gets listed on the exchanges, its price would boom like that of bitcoin, Morris Coin agents promised the investors. This continued mostly during the lockdown period of 2020 until Nishad was arrested in September of the same year.In the past 15 days, this is the third crypto fraud case to be reported in Indian media. On March 27,