The City of London Police has urged the Nepalese and Gurkha community to come forward about a suspected £50mn 'Ponzi' scheme, where the community is suspected to have invested thousands or millions with little return. A 'Ponzi' scheme fraudulently distributes returns to investors from the money paid in by other investors.
Police is reportedly investigating an accused City-based foreign exchange trading firm Capital World Market; believed to have arrested 14 people, and released them on bail.
The City of London Police believe about 450 Gurkha and Nepalese community members invested but many have not made contact with police.
Speaking about the alleged scam, a community representative told Asian Voice, “This goes back a year or two and we are aware that many ex-Gurkhas have been victimised.
“As expected it is an Asian concept the fear of loss of face and being seen to be a fool for having been taken for a ride. We (the community) have spread the word around that they can come through us or directly approach the police and all in total confidentiality.
He added, “Our people are very gullible. There was a similar scheme around 20 years back but this was in Nepal. The people involved were professional and shrewd. The UK scam allegedly offers 5% (so I believe in this case) return on a monthly basis, simple calculation would add this to 60% APR.
“The monthly interest payments are made promptly every month, the ‘happy’ client then spreads the ‘good news’ around and the rest follow. The victim does not realise he is getting the 5% from his own money.
“In Nepal, the scam built up the network and when the scammers had hit their target, they disappeared. Also in the Nepal scam the victims were used as agents to draw in customers and in the end they had to personally refund the customers, in most cases selling land and property to make up for it.”
Tikendra Dewan, the Chair of the British Gurkha Welfare Society, told Asian Voice exclusively, “The Gurkha/Nepali community have been made aware of this scam and strongly encouraged to come forward to help the Police to help them as they are the victims and not the suspects. They can directly contact the Police on 0207 601 6830 or on 03001232040 or mail at [email protected]. Should they need our assistance BGWS stands by. All cases will be dealt with the strictis confidentiality.”
