Mumbai: Torres Jewellers Scammed Investors of Rs. 13.5 Crore
Investors gathered outside Torres Jewellery office in Mumbai demanding refunds after the company failed to pay promised returns and allegedly defrauded them of crores.
A large crowd of people, mostly investors, gathered outside the Torres Jewellery office in Dadar, Mumbai, recently. But why?
Torres Jewellery is a well-known luxury jewellery brand with many branches in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. The investors had come to demand refunds for the money they had invested in the company. Torres Jewellery had promised them amazing returns, but now the company is failing to pay back the money.
Reports say that people invested lakhs of rupees in Torres' investment scheme. The company had promised a weekly return of 10-11% on a minimum investment of ?50,000. However, for the last two weeks, the company failed to pay the promised installments, and there has been no contact from the company either.
This situation led a vegetable vendor from Nariman Point, who was also an investor, to file a police complaint against the company. Other investors, mostly from the Mira-Bhayandar area, soon joined him and gathered outside the Torres Jewellery office.
The Mumbai police arrived at the location and secured the entrance of the office. The investors made it clear that they only wanted to get their invested money back and did not care about the promised interest.
Police have registered complaints against the top executives of the company, accusing them of cheating investors.
On their official website, Torres Jewellery has blamed their CEO, Tausif Riaz, and Chartered Accountant Abhishek Gupta for defrauding investors of ?13.48 crores. The company also accused Riaz and Gupta of stealing valuables and damaging property at one of their jewellery shops for personal gain and insurance benefits.
Torres Jewellery even posted CCTV footage showing Riaz and Gupta involved in theft and vandalism, along with their pictures for identification.
The company claims that the entire incident is part of a bigger conspiracy. The post also revealed how Riaz regularly used company funds for personal purposes over several months. The company alleged that Riaz and Gupta used Ponzi schemes to trick investors and customers.
Torres Jewellery attracted investors by telling them that their schemes were for a limited time. Some of the schemes included promises like:
- If you invested ?1 lakh, you would get a ?10,000 discount on pendant jewellery.
- You would also receive 6% of your invested money every week for 52 weeks (1 year).
For example, people who invested on January 1, 2025, were promised their first installment on January 6, 2025. But when the company shut down, no one received any money back.
The company and the investors had not signed any formal agreement for the promised 11% returns. The bill also mentioned that the jewellery could not be returned or exchanged. By purchasing, investors agreed to all terms and conditions mentioned on the bill.
Social media influencer Amar Bhati, known for his Instagram channel "brainkrupt," shared a post about his relative who invested ?50,000 and bought diamonds from Torres. In the post, Bhati advises people who are hoping to get their money back to lower their expectations because they had agreed to the terms when they signed the bill.
On social media, many people are drawing comparisons between this real-life incident and the popular Bollywood comedy movie “Phir Hera Pheri.” In the movie, the character played by Bipasha Basu runs a fake company called Laxmi Chit Fund, promising to double investors' money. While the movie is funny because it’s fictional, this incident is very real, and people have lost their hard-earned money.
We hope the investors are able to get their money back soon. The investigation is still ongoing.
Stay tuned to ISH News for more updates on this story.
