Hibox Case: Delhi Police has summoned famous YouTuber Elvish Yadav and comedian Bharti Singh besides three others in an app-based scam involving a fraud of Rs 500 crore, an official said on Thursday. According to news agency PTI, police received over 500 complaints alleging that several social media influencers and YouTubers promoted the HIBOX mobile application on their pages and lured people to invest through the app.

The main accused in the scam is Chennai resident Shivaram (30), who has been arrested, police said. According to the complaint, several social media influencers and YouTubers, including Saurav Joshi, Abhishek Malhan, Purav Jha, Elvish Yadav, Bharti Singh, Harsh Limbachiyaa, Lakshya Chaudhary, Adarsh Singh, Amit, and Dilraj Singh Rawat, promoted the application and lured people to invest through it.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (IFSO Special Cell) Hemant Tiwari said, "HIBOX is a mobile application which was part of a well-planned scam." 

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The DCP said, "Through this application, the accused promised guaranteed returns of one to five per cent per day, 30 to 90 per cent in a month. The app was launched in February 2024 and more than 30,000 people invested in it. During the initial five months, investors got good returns in it. However, in July, the app stopped payments, citing technical glitches, legal issues, and GST issues, among others.

"The alleged companies disappeared after shutting down their office in Noida, Uttar Pradesh," DCP Tiwari said. Police said that the mastermind Shivram has been arrested and Rs 18 crore has been seized from his four different bank accounts.

On August 16, the police received complaints from 29 victims against the HIBOX application in Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO). The complainants alleged that they were promised high returns on their investments. Returns were promised. On August 20, the Special Cell registered an FIR under various sections of the Indian Justice Code and relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act.

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During the probe, several complaints were also filed against the HIBOX application by nine people from Cyber Northeast district who were similarly duped. These nine cases were transferred to the IFSO. Police received over 500 complaints from Northeast District, Outer District, Shahdara, and the NCRP portal.