The Delhi Police has summoned YouTuber Elvish Yadav, comedian Bharti Singh, and three others in connection with the HiBox investment scam, a large-scale fraud that fooled more than 30,000 people, the Times of India reported on Monday, October 7.
The police have summoned them for allegedly promoting the HIBOX mobile application and encouraging people to invest in it. Others such as Saurav Joshi, Abhishek Malhan, Purav Jha, Elvish Yadav, Bharti Singh, Harsh Limbachiya, Lakshay Choudhary, Adarsh Singh, Amit, and Dilraj Singh Rawat were also allegedly involved in the fraud, according to the report.
The Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations Unit (IFSO) arrested a 30-year-old Chennai resident in connection with the ₹500-crore stock trading app scam. The application was launched in February 2024, according to the report.
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.
The HIBOX app guaranteed returns of 1 to 5 per cent daily, which makes nearly 30 to 90 per cent of monthly returns. The app initially made the payments, but later, they withheld the funds citing multiple reasons, as per the report.
Investigations revealed that the app was being operated through a well-planned scam which promised huge returns. 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.
The accused vanished after closing the firm's 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 the report.
The police are also reportedly investigating the involvement of payment gateways like Easebuzz and PhonePe, which allegedly opened merchant accounts for the accused without proper verification.
