Elvish Yadav and other YouTubers, called by police for probe into Rs 500 crore fraud, miss summons

New Delhi: Four social media influencers, including Elvish Yadav, who had been summoned in connection with an app-based fraud of Rs 500 crore, did not appear before the Delhi Police on Friday, officials said.

The IFSO Unit (Special Cell) of the Delhi Police has issued notice to the social media influencers Abhishek Malhan, Elvish Yadav, Lakshay Choudhary and Purav Jha to join investigation.

"These YouTubers/social media influencers were asked to join investigation today. But no one appeared before IFSO. Reminder notice will be sent to them again," a senior police officer said.

Police has received over 500 complaints alleging that many social media influencers and YouTubers promoted the HIBOX mobile application on their pages and lured people into investing through the app, Deputy Commissioner of Police (IFSO) Hemant Tiwari said.

According to Tiwari, through the application, the accused promised guaranteed returns of one to five per cent daily, amounting to 30 to 90 per cent in a month, the DCP said.

The app was launched in February 2024. Over 30,000 people invested money in the app.

The main accused in the scam, Sivaram (30), a Chennai resident, has already been arrested, police said.

As per the complainant, social media influencers and YouTubers Saurav Joshi, Abhishek Malhan, Purav Jha, Elvish Yadav, Bharti Singh, Harsh Limbachiya, Lakshay Choudhary, Adarsh Singh, Amit and Dilraj Singh Rawat promoted the application and lured people into investing through the app.

"HIBOX is a mobile application that was part of a well-planned scam," the DCP said.

Police has also said in a statement that it is investigating the role of two payment platforms -- Easebuzz and PhonePe.

In a statement, Easebuzz said it has proactively blocked the merchant being probed by the police in July 2024 prior to the investigation by authorities.

"Moreover, Easebuzz has filed the Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) under the Financial Intelligence Unit, India (FIU) reporting norms immediately on receipt of our internal transaction monitoring system alerts in place and has blocked the merchant from transacting as per our company compliance policies," the statement said.

"Further, Easebuzz is confident in its merchant onboarding and due diligence policy and necessary details of the merchant (KYC details, transaction ledger and others documents) as required by the authorities have been duly submitted. Easebuzz ensures to remain compliant and cooperate with the authorities in the investigation process against the merchant," it said.