Nagaland’s old story of greed and deceit

DIMAPUR — Time and again, people in Nagaland have fallen victim to Ponzi schemes of varied guile, and a recent Nagaland Police advisory concerning a company by the name and style of RGA has unraveled a similar old story of deceit and greed for easy money.   

On October 23, the official X account of Nagaland Police uploaded a post in the form of an advisory warning about the scam. It cautioned that RGA has lured many investors from Nagaland promising huge returns.

As per their mode of operation, the initial investors were given the returns a promised, apparently to look genuine. Further, downline percentages were given to investors for introducing new investors.

This, the police warned, could be an indication of yet another Ponzi scheme.

A day after issuing the advisory, Nagaland Police used the same medium of communication to announce that it had registered a regular case in the State Crime Police Station—and has initiated an investigation against the company.

It cited complaints reported in its 1930 CFCFRMS portal against the investment company RGA for duping its customers.

Besides reporting the matter to 1930 CFCFRMS (Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System) portal, it requested members of the public/victims to visit the link provided and enter requisite detail and information to aid the investigation agency.

On Saturday, one of the victims shared to Eastern Mirror how she was lured into the web of deceit. The woman explained that she was asked to invest in ‘Level 1’—of what has now been revealed as a mega swindle—with a security deposit of INR 1800.

Each day, she was required to complete five tasks, which involved downloading five applications linked to RGA.

Upon completing those five talks, she would earn INR 60 per day. Withdrawals were permitted every Tuesday, once they had accumulated either INR 300 or INR 800.

She had joined the chain in August and managed to recover some of her investments by withdrawing INR 800 twice and INR 2500 two more occasions.

According to the woman, she was able to recruit 13 individuals as downline members, which enabled her to recover her money within two months. She also shared that recently in the month of October they had received a message from RGA stating that they needed to pay a management fee based on their entry level.

For Level 1 investors, they were required to deposit INR 450, while for Level 2, the deposit amount was INR 1200. This structure continues up to Level 10.

They received messages warning that of the participants fail to deposit the required amounts by October 23 and the 24th, between 9 am and 6 pm, the funds in their accounts would be transferred to another designated fund account and they won’t be able to receive the money again.

It further informed that the participants could withdraw their money by Friday, however when they attempted to access the withdrawal link on Friday, October 25, it displayed a message indicating that it was a scam.

As per her knowledge, the RGA offices were opened at 4th Mile and 6th Mile in Chümoukedima as well as at certain location in Tuensang and Noklak districts. Now, she said, attempts to log in are met with ‘servers reconnect’ messages.

The victim shared that there were many WhatsApp groups related to the scheme, and the group she was part of had more than 1,000 members.

It was informed that one of the victims, who had joined last month at Level 1 with a deposit of INR 1800, could only withdraw INR 300 and ended up incurring a loss.

Another victim, who had joined RGA at Level 2 with an investment of INR 4000 two months ago, managed to recover her investment before the scheme was shut down. The main reason she was able to do this was her success in recruiting many downline members, she said.