In the history of Ponzi schemes, there is no example of equitable justice. There is only one outcome: the house of cards comes crashing down, the mastermind is hauled off to jail, and the victims are the ones hung out to dry.
Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that pays existing investors with funds collected from new investors.
Amidst the flurry of frantic activities by the authorities, insiders have long ago resigned to the grim realisation that the victims can only be offered table scraps.
Take eorange as an example. As many as 5,573 complaints were filed against the ecommerce platform with the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP), but with no money in sight, only 33 complaints could be disposed of so far.
The amount of money over which the complaints were filed is not small by any means. DNCRP’s log shows that 10 of the worst eorange victims who sought help are owed a total of Tk 48.36 crores.
They are all buyers, and only 10 of the several thousands who are looking to the directorate for answers.
Information provided by insiders at the commerce ministry reveals that the company has roughly Tk 44 crores stuck in payment gateways, meaning that is the maximum that can be returned and disbursed — not even enough to pay the 10 buyers.
Since July 1 last year, the gateways have been keeping such payments in the escrow accounts as per a directive of Bangladesh Bank, and waiting for…
