Youtuber Elvish Yadav, comedian Bharti Singh, actor Rhea Chakraborty, and other social media influencers have been summoned by the Delhi Police. These influencers are in connection with the HiBox investment scam. Other influencers, namely Saurav Joshi, Abhishek Malhan, Purav Jha, Harsh Limbachiya, Lakshay Choudhary, Adarsh Singh, Amit, and Dilraj Singh Rawat, were also allegedly involved in the fraud. The police have summoned them for allegedly promoting the HIBOX mobile application and encouraging people to invest in it.  

The HIBOX Scam

 

The HIBOX, an investment application, made its debut in February 2024. In the beginning, it lured investors by promising them a guaranteed return of 1% to 5% daily, which is nearly about 30% to 90% of monthly returns. 

Initially, the app gave good returns to its investors, gaining trust from them to invest a larger amount. The app continued to make payments till July 2024 but later withheld the amount. 

The reason they gave behind withholding payments and withdrawals was technical glitches, GST issues, legal issues, etc. 

The app was being operated through a well-planned scam that promised huge returns, an investigation revealed. The entire value raised from the victims was deposited into four accounts of a company registered in the name of the accused, who also held the role of a director in the entity, according to the report.

Large-scale Fraud

The HIBOX investment application scammed more than 30,000 people. The Delhi Police received around 500 complaints that accused influencers of promoting the app. The Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations Unit (IFSO) accused Sivaram, a 30-year-old from Chennai, in connection with the ₹500-crore stock trading app scam.

The accused fled away after closing his Noida office. According to the police, the accused was one of the main conspirators, the company’s registrant, the owner of the payment gateways, and the holder of the four bank accounts used for receiving the investment amounts, as per reports.

An FIR was registered against the accused under the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act, and the police seized ₹18 crore from his bank accounts, as per the report.

Payment applications such as Easebuzz and PhonePe are allegedly under investigation for opening a merchant account for the accused without proper verification. These applications were used for sending and receiving payments from the accused and victims.

Influencers Involvement

The Delhi Police received 500 complaints from the victims that accused social media influencers of allegedly promoting the app.

Influencers including Youtuber Elvish Yadav, comedian Bharti Singh, actor Rhea Chakraborty, Saurav Joshi, Abhishek Malhan, Purav Jha, Harsh Limbachiya, Lakshay Choudhary, Adarsh Singh, Amit, and Dilraj Singh Rawat promoted the application and lured people into investing through the app.

Victims claimed that they trusted the app because their favourite influencer promoted it. The police have issued a notice to all the influencers who promoted the app.

As the investigation unfolds, the involvement of high-profile personalities has shed light on the pressing issue of influencer responsibility in promoting financial schemes, emphasising the need for transparency and due diligence in endorsements.