Rhea Chakraborty Summoned by Delhi Police Over ₹500 Crore App-Based Scam Investigation

Rhea Chakraborty Summoned by Delhi Police: Rhea Chakraborty, Bharti Singh and YouTuber Elvish Yadav are being questioned in a case related to the HiBox mobile app which lured thousands with high returns. Several other social media influencers have also been called in connection with the ₹500 crore scam.

According to DCP (IFSO) Hemant Tiwari, 127 complaints were filed that several influencers and YouTubers promoted the mobile app HIBOX on their platforms and asked people to invest. The app was a scam which promised daily returns of 1-5% which translates to 30-90% monthly returns.

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Launched in February, HIBOX was giving good returns to investors. But by July it stopped paying, citing technical issues and legal problems. “Over 30,000 people invested in this app” said the DCP.

The investigation was initiated after Delhi Police received over 500 complaints from people who said they invested money in the app after seeing a promotional video from their favourite social media influencer or YouTuber.

HiBox app was launched in February 2024 and managed to get over 30,000 people to invest money. The app was paying investors the promised returns till June and then stopped paying and withdrawals citing technical glitches, GST issues, legal issues etc.

The main accused in the scam Sivaram (30) from Chennai is already arrested, said the police.

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According to the complainant, actor Rhea Chakraborty, YouTubers Saurav Joshi, Abhishek Malhan, Purav Jha, Elvish Yadav, Bharti Singh, Harsh Limbachiya, Lakshay Choudhary, Adarsh Singh, Amit and Dilraj Singh Rawat were among those who promoted the app on their social media handles.

Police have also said in a statement that they are investigating the role of two payment platforms -- Easebuzz and PhonePe. Cops said that the apps have not followed the guidelines issued by Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Easebuzz said in a statement that they had blocked the merchant in July 2024 before the police investigation.

"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.

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