Is 8% to 12% Monthly Returns Reliable? Indian Unlicensed FX Platform VIP Trade Leaves Investors in Debt

Recently, a serious forex trading scam occurred in Rajasthan, India, involving the unlicensed forex trading company VIP Trade, which swindled money from victims through a pyramid-style operation. The company claimed that investors could earn returns of 8% to 12% per month by investing in foreign currencies, such as the US dollar and the euro.

According to the Indian police, the victims of the scam included individuals from various professions, such as businessmen, government officials, tailors, and daily wage workers. In pursuit of the attractive profits promised by the scammers, many investors took out loans, mortgaged gold and real estate to invest, only to end up losing their money.

Although the police arrested two suspects two months ago, the mastermind behind the scam, Lokesh Chaudhary, and Abdul Samad, a key player, are still at large.

_{Indian police had arrested two suspects two months ago.}

In 2023, Chaudhary founded a forex trading company, VIP Trade, to offer trading services to people through a fake app. However, the firm was never approved by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) or the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

_{Lokesh Chaudhary}

Not only Chaudhary himself, but his wife, friends, and relatives were also involved. He also partnered with Samad, an online sales expert, to endorse the company as the ‘Royal Chairman’, who played a key role in setting up the pyramid mode of operations. With his help, VIP Trade developed hundreds of investment leaders and thousands of agents.

_{Abdul Samad}

VIP Trade also offered a 4% commission for referrals and rewarded agents who achieved results with trips abroad. For example, in October 2024, more than forty agents traveled to Thailand, with Chaudhary paying for everything, including tickets, hotels, and sightseeing.

According to the scammer, the minimum deposit required by VIP Trade was about Rs 9,000. If one invests Rs 100,000, the investor is promised to get a return of Rs 8,000 per month.

_{VIP Trade posts online ads on social media}

In the beginning, investors received 15 months of returns, but the scheme eventually collapsed in February this year. VIP Trade could no longer pay the “returns” to investors, and eventually shut down the entire scheme and disappeared with all client funds.

Santosh Kanwar, a tailor and neighbor of Samad, is among the many victims of the collapsed forex platform VIP Trade. She and her family invested at least ₹18 lakh, but managed to recover only ₹3 lakh. Now burdened by debt and struggling to survive, they are relying on borrowed money just to make ends meet. Kanwar says that if they fail to recover the remaining funds, they will be forced to sell their home, leaving the family on the streets.

BrokersView reminds you

All unregulated forex trading platforms carry a high risk of fraud. Without regulations, investors have no reliable way to verify whether their funds are being used for legitimate market trades or simply siphoned off by scammers.

Once investors are lured into a pyramid-style fraudulent investment scheme, collapse is only a matter of time. These schemes rely on a constant influx of new investors to pay returns to exist ones. When the flow of fresh capital dries up and the money chain breaks, the entire structure crumbles. At that point, the scammers disappear, taking all the remaining funds with them and leaving victims with devastating losses.

If you have encountered a similar scam, you can help protect more investors by exposing it through BrokersView.