Kathmandu, March 29
Nepal police have arrested nine Chinese nationals and 10 Nepali co-workers on the charge of swindling over Rs 100 million from Nepali people on the pretext of making the victims their partners in buying and selling goods through digital platforms.
Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office, through their one-and-a-half-months long investigation, revealed that the Chinese nationals had operated the racket in rented apartments in Budhanilkantha and Chandol areas of Kathmandu.
As per SSP Manoj Kumar KC of KVCIO, the racketeers would first identify possible victims through social media like WhatsApp and offer them free training in online business and provide them jobs after completion of the training.
The laymen, would then join a class called 'Mission Teacher' on the Telegram app and get some basic information about how to sell commodities produced in China to Nepal. However, they would be asked to invest the basic amount ranging from $15 to $30 on the products chosen by Nepali buyers in social media.
They would also be asked to make payments by themselves at first, saying Nepali buyers could not send the money to China.
Upon making small investments initially, the swindlers used to provide 30 per cent of their investment as commission in direct cash to encourage them to invest more. The swindlers would then show a pseudo bank statement to the victims from China, saying their money had been safely deposited there and they could get the money back when it reached a certain amount. As the victims were convinced with the little commission and fake bank statements, they started to increase their investment hoping to earn more money. However, when their bank statements started growing after a long period, swindlers would refuse to give them the money, saying it was illegal to do so.
Police came to know about the racket after one person realised that he had become a victim of the fraud and sought the help of police. He had invested Rs 4.8 million in buying goods from China but never got it back.
Police say there might be more victims as they have found over Rs 100 million from four bank accounts they recovered from the arrested Chinese nationals.
"Lately, we have found an additional 14 such accounts which are yet to be investigated. This is a clear sign that hundreds of Nepalis might have been their victims," SSP KC told THT. He also said many Nepalis who had invested lesser amounts didn't want to come to the police fearing that they could go behind bars after they realised that they were involved in illegal businesses.
The number of Chinese people involved in illicit online business has been on the rise of late. This is probably the first instance that we have come to know how the business actually runs after the victims came forward.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 30, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
