SOURCE ; NEW18
Last Updated:January 11, 2025, 23:57 IST
As per the EOW, Director of Platinum Hern Pvt Ltd, which runs the Torres jewellery brand, Victoriia Kovalenko, and former director of the company, Olena Stoian- are suspected to be the masterminds of the fraud.
Torres Jewellery has showrooms across Mumbai in areas such as Grant Road, Navi-Mumbai, Kalyan and Mira Road. (Image: X)
The Mumbai police Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has found that Torres investment fraud scheme was conceived and planned by two Ukrainians, who fled the country just before the scam surfaced less than a week ago.
As per the EOW, Director of Platinum Hern Pvt Ltd, which runs the Torres jewellery brand, Victoriia Kovalenko, and former director of the company, Olena Stoian- are suspected to be the masterminds of the fraud, which left thousands of investors in the lurch after the jewellery chain with several stores in Mumbai allegedly duped them through a Ponzi scheme promising high returns, reported Hindustan Times.
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As per the police, both the suspects fled the country in December 2024 after telling staffers and agents they were going on Christmas leave.
The police said that when the Torres’ employees realised that their top executives won’t be returning, they ransacked the stores as they realised they would have to forfeit salaries and other dues. Torres Jewellery has showrooms across Mumbai in areas such as Grant Road, Navi-Mumbai, Kalyan and Mira Road.
The firm has also blamed its CEO and other staff members, alleging that they conned customers through a fraudulent scheme and robbed and vandalised stores part of the chain.
CEO Is 10th Fail
The probe has further revealed that the firm’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tausif Reyaz, who is on the run, was a school dropout. He had not even cleared the Class 10 exam. An Aadhar centre operator in Byculla and a resident of Virar, Reyaz had been approached by the Ukrainians to head the company, the report added.
Meanwhile, the Navghar police in Bhayander have arrested three more people in a Torres Ponzi scheme case. Lakshmi Yadav, who is accused of renting the office space at Ramdev Park on Mira Road, was arrested from Tardeo. Supervisor Nitit Lakhwani (47) and manager Kaiser Khalid Sheikh (52) have also been arrested. Both of them were working at the Ramdev Park branch.
What’s The Case And How It Emerged?
The matter came into limelight on January 6, when investors had gathered around the brand’s stores in Dadar and Navi Mumbai’s Sanpada and panicked to see the shops shut without any prior notice, as reported earlier.
The scamsters lured investors by floating a fake scheme envisaging purchase of moissanite stones and gems with an assured 11 percent weekly cashback on the purchase value for the next one year (52 weeks) which translated into a whopping 400 percent profit amounting Rs.5.72 lakh in a year.
Under this scheme, a customer who invested Rs 1 lakh would get a pendant with a moissanite stone worth Rs 10,000. These stones, the customers have now realised, were fake.
Customers said they got some payouts over the past year, but they stopped about two months back.
People had invested lakhs of rupees in schemes promising returns, according to the news outlet. The company initially disbursed the instalments of the scheme. However, it failed to disburse instalments in the last two weeks, forcing investors to gather outside the Torres office in Dadar.
The duped investors approached the Shivaji Park police station to register an FIR, demanding the return of the principal amount, which they had invested trusting the famous jewellery brand.
Police have registered a case and named the holding firm Platinum Hern Private Limited, its two directors, CEO, general manager and a store in-charge as accused.
