Hyderabad, March 23 (NationPress) - On Monday, the Hyderabad Police apprehended 32 individuals during coordinated operations across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka. These arrests are linked to four distinct cases involving the Q-Net/Vihaan direct selling multi-level marketing scheme.

Hyderabad Police Commissioner V. C. Sajjanar announced at a press briefing that the arrests were executed by 30 specialized teams from the Central Crime Station (CCS) of the Hyderabad City Police, conducting swift raids in various locations across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Among those detained, 11 were women, all of whom played various roles in recruiting and training promoters for this fraudulent MLM operation. A significant portion of the arrested individuals are employed in the IT sector, with some being former IT professionals.

The Commissioner emphasized that this represents a massive cheating operation amounting to thousands of crores nationwide and involves promoting an illegal money circulation scheme by Vihaan Direct Selling Pvt Ltd, a self-proclaimed franchisee of the QI Group in India under the brand name of Q Net.

Four cases have been registered against Vihaan Direct Selling Pvt Ltd (Q Net) at the CCS, Detective Department, Hyderabad. This company, previously known as Gold Quest and Quest Net, is a Hong Kong-based MLM entity owned by the QI Group.

The company particularly targets software professionals, businesspeople, housewives, and those seeking part-time employment. According to police reports, this group exploits unemployed youth and software employees by misrepresenting part-time job opportunities and enticing them with high-return investment prospects in the guise of E-Commerce ventures. The selected individuals were lured to hotels in Hitech City, where they were presented with investment plans promising returns of 3 to 4 crores within two years for investments ranging from five to ten lakh rupees. Initially, the name of the company, Q-Net, or the MLM structure was not disclosed.

In some instances, when participants received products at home, they were misled into believing these were gifts from the company to encourage their continued participation in the scheme, thereby diverting their investment funds towards purchasing products in the MLM scheme without their awareness, explained Sajjanar.

The firm employs various illegal tactics such as Ponzi schemes, Binary Schemes, product-based approaches, and vacation packages, the Commissioner noted.

As of now, the police have interviewed 11 victims from the four cases, who reported losses totaling nearly Rs 75 lakh. Many more victims are yet to be interviewed.

Efforts continue to track down the absconding individuals involved in this fraudulent network, the Commissioner concluded.