Cairo: The Public Prosecution Office for Economic Affairs and Anti-Money Laundering, under the supervision of the Prosecutor General, has initiated a comprehensive investigation into multiple reports submitted by the Interior Ministry's General Department of Information Technology concerning alleged electronic fraud committed against citizens via an online platform known as VSA.
According to State Information Service Egypt, the Public Prosecution revealed that the platform had been promoting fraudulent investment schemes, deceptively promising substantial profits in exchange for completing online tasks. The investigation has so far resulted in the identification and arrest of 23 suspects, who were found in possession of mobile phones and a significant number of SIM cards connected to electronic wallets registered in their names and those of others.
These electronic wallets were allegedly used to receive funds from victims. Authorities further discovered that the suspects had established accounts on various websites to facilitate and promote their illicit activities, using social media posts to lure additional participants.
The Public Prosecution is currently hearing witness statements from victims, whose number has reached 57 to date, with total reported losses estimated at approximately EGP 2.627 million (around $85,000). Investigations have revealed that the suspects employed a fraudulent scheme whereby victims were enticed to invest via a mobile application by completing seemingly simple online tasks.
The suspects would initially return a portion of the victims' funds under the pretense of "profits" to gain their trust, encouraging them to invest larger sums and recruit new participants in exchange for commissions. This approach fostered a false perception of profitability, while in reality, the operation was a fraudulent network marketing scheme that relied on new investor inflows to pay earlier investors, with the ultimate goal of misappropriating funds.
The Public Prosecution has cautioned the public against falling victim to such deceptive online investment schemes, often promoted through social media, which are in fact designed to unlawfully appropriate individuals' funds. The statement also referenced a previous case in which defendants were referred to criminal court for operating a similar fraudulent scheme via another platform known as FBC, which followed the same criminal methodology.