Gurvin Singh, 20, born in Plymouth, UK, first made headlines last year when he bragged about turning 200 British pounds (about $261) into 100,000 pounds (more than $130,000) while he studied to become a doctor, Metro UK reported. After that he showcased his luxury car collection — including a gold-wrapped Maserati – and gathered more than 170,000 followers looking for investment tips and “signals,” a service in which clients pay foreign exchange traders who allow them to copy their moves on the market, the outlet reported.
Singh reportedly launched a team of “affiliate marketers” called GS3 Trades to help his clients — managing their money through a platform called Infinox. The alleged victims told Metro that at least five WhatsApp groups were launched with 250 investors in each —at least 1,250 people. The victims said Singh misled them into believing he and his team would handle their money in a safe UK-based fund that they could withdraw from whenever they liked. Yet the accounts rapidly plummeted in December, with Singh telling his investors that the fund was closed until March due to “Brexit-related headwinds” before cutting all contacts.
The money may have ended up with a broker in the Caribbean and could be unrecoverable, according to the report. Screenshots obtained by Metro reveal that Singh’s clients lost 3,865,000 pounds — more than $5 million — between August 2019 and Christmas Eve.
Financial authorities are probing Singh as a potential scammer, and the police fraud unit confirmed to Metro they are started an investigation into the Instagram celebrity.
Singh deleted his @gs_3 Instagram account due to “a matter linked to the police,” he told Metro.
He said he never led any investors to believe they were working with a Financial Conduct Authority-regulated broker — but his “sub-affiliates” may have done so while impersonating him, while also claiming that investors signed a contract with a broker regulated in the Bahamas, which handled the trading.
The financial authority told Metro that “this firm is not authorized by us and is targeting people in the UK.”
“Based upon information we hold, we believe it is carrying on regulated activities which require authorization,” officials said.
