Indian authorities have made five arrests in connection to the Torres MLM Ponzi scheme.

Torres was a jewelry themed MLM crypto Ponzi targeting Indians. The scam appears to have collapsed in the lead up to Christmas 2024.

Torres’ Ponzi ruse was sham jewelry stores set up in India tied to Ukrainian scammers.

If you haven’t heard of Torres before you’re not alone, I hadn’t either. But the business model immediately reminded me of Cancri Jewelry, an MLM Ponzi BehindMLM reviewed in 2022.

The original Cancri Jewelry Ponzi collapsed in late 2022 just before Christmas. Last we checked in, there was an attempted Cancri Jewelry reboot in early 2023.

Torres launched in April 2023, evidently shortly after Canrci’s attempted reboot failed.

Turns out the same scammers behind Cancri Jewelry are behind Torres. They also ran B2B Jewelry, another clone that targeted Ukraine.

I can’t confirm but if I had to guess, Cancri Jewelry attracted a large enough Indian investor base. When Cancri Jewelry’s reboot collapsed, the scammers figured it was worth launching under a different name to target India specifically.

In an attempt to save himself CEO Tausif Reyaz (right), an Indian national, turned whistleblower after Torres collapsed.

As reported by Mid-Day on January 10th;

[Reyaz] asserts he alerted the agencies concerned on January 4, submitting detailed documents and evidence exposing the ongoing fraud as soon as he discovered it.

Following the arrest of three individuals by the Shivaji Park police, an 182-page whistleblower report surfaced, alleging that the fraud was orchestrated by the same people behind the 2019 Ukraine and Russia B2B jewellery scam.

[Reyaz] alleged that Torres operates a Ponzi scheme under the guise of a jewellery business, involving financial irregularities such as tax evasion, excessive cash expenditures, and potential money laundering in Torres scam.

He stated that the scheme mirrors the fraudulent practices of B2B Jewellery (Ukraine) and Cancri Jewellery (Turkey), run by the same individuals.

As far as I can tell Reyaz is a typical Boris CEO. Russian and Ukrainian scammers typically use actors with fictional names to play executives. Reyaz seems stupid enough to have used his real name.

As of January 10th, 2025, Indian authorities had arrested:

  • Valentina Ganesh Kumari, a Russian national
  • Taniya Xasatova (aka Tazagul Khasatova), an Uzbekistan national and
  • Ashok Surve, an indian national

Olena Stoian and Victoria Kovalenko, Ukrainian nationals, were cited as wanted suspects and key Torres insiders.

On January 21st Indian authorities secured Interpol blue corner notices on eight Ukrainian nationals and one Turkish national.

As reported by Indian Express on January 22nd;

Police have issued blue corner notice against suspected mastermind Olena Stoian, director of Platinum Hern Pvt Ltd that runs Torres, Victoria Kovalenko, Mustafa Karakoc, Oleksandr Borovyk, Oleksandr Zapichenko, Oleksandra Brunkivska, Oleksandra Tredokhib, Artem Oliferchuk and Iurchenko Igor.

Mustafa Karakoc is a Turkish national while the rest are Ukrainians, an EOW officer said.

Between January 10th and 21st Indian authorities also arrested Alpesh Khara. Khara is tied to the laundering of Rs. 2 billion in tether (USDT) out of India (~$23 million USD).

On January 27th, Indian authorities announced they had arrested CEO Tausif Reyaz.

Total Torres losses are pegged at Rs. 10 billion (~$115 million USD), stolen from around 125,000 investors.

Outside of the two insiders arrested in India, the rest of the Ukrainian scammers behind the Torres scam remain at large.