Nagpur: Businessman duped of Rs 58 crore through illegal online gambling app

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With online gaming becoming more and more popular, there is a growing trend of scams and people being susceptible to them. In a recent example, a 50-year-old businessman from Nagpur has fallen victim to a gambling scam, losing a humongous Rs 58 crore.

The businessman came in contact with a bookie named Anant Navratan Jain who promised substantial return on investments on an online gaming platform. The victim fell into the trap and invested Rs 8 lakh to begin with for betting on cricket matches through the app.

Upon finding out that he was duped, the Nagpur-based businessman filed a complaint. Acting on the information, the police tracked down Jain and raided his residence in Gondia, a town 160 kms from Nagpur. As per police commissioner Amitesh Kumar, they recovered Rs 17 crore in cash, 14 kg of gold and 200kg of silver. Jain, however, is on the loose.

“Jain apparently convinced the complainant – a businessman – to explore online gambling as a lucrative avenue of earning money. Initially hesitant, the businessman succumbed to Jain’s persuasion and transferred ₹8 lakh through a hawala agent,” Kumar told reporters as quoted by Hindustan Times.

“After initial success, the businessman’s fortunes took a drastic downturn as he lost a whopping ₹58 crore while winning only around ₹5 crore,” the police commissioner added.

The police has issued an arrest warrant against Jain who is believed to have escaped to Dubai a day prior to the raid. Moreover, it has been discovered that Jain is also the one who developed the app to scam people.

Citizens are advised not to trust people who claim to provide huge returns from online gaming apps, especially those who claim there would be no GST and TDS on winnings. Illegal offshore betting websites are now luring in people with claims to deduct no tax on winnings after the GST Council’s recent decision for the online gaming sector.

A prime example is banned betting website Fairplay that has recently started promoting with the same claims as mentioned above through celebrities and social media influencers. The company is also using a new domain after their previous one was banned again.

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