Explained | ‘Smile Rancher’ makes people cry. All you need to know about the latest online scam

An online fraud scheme run via WhatsApp link and a fraudulent app fuelled by a rumours promising substantial profits from buying virtual animals, like pigs, ducks etc., has cost hundreds of thousands of rupees to villagers in India's state of Bihar. As reported by Boom Decode, the scheme had lured people to investin pigs and other livestock online through a game, with the expectation of high returns.

Here's all you need to know:

How it all started

The origins of the online scam can be traced back to a WhatsApp message that circulated in Bihar, claiming that purchasing animals online could yield profits of up to thousands of rupees within a few months. The message propagated the idea that an online game called ‘Smile Rancher’ helped a middle-aged man win big by "investing" in the online purchase of livestock. As per the claims, the man won INR 20 lakh or $2 million.

The scheme

The report quotes an 18-year-old victim of the scheme,Suraj Kumar who revealed that people had to create an account by entering a six-digit password. Once that was done, they would find pictures of dozens of animals which they could buy.

After paying for the purchase, all they had to do was log in everyday and click on the animal. This would result in them getting paid a certain amount in the app's wallet.

"The most expensive was the peacock, which cost Rs 50,000. It would earn Rs 3,000 a day. Duck was the cheapest one which cost Rs 5,000 rupees, the app claimed to offer Rs 400 for it every day," said Kumar.

"One had to log in every day and click on the animal or bird that was bought. The earnings on the animals would come in the wallet of the account which was created in the app," he added.

Could this money be withdrawn?

Yes, but most times people would receive a server error.

The maximum limit for withdrawal from the application wallet was Rs3000,however, people who purchased and bred these virtual animals said they would very often get error messages on attempting to withdraw money.

However, some people successfully withdrew small amounts of money. This only helped give people false hope.

As the word spread, more individuals became interested in investing and many people borrowed money or sold assets to enter the market.

But one day the app just stopped working.

Who owns ‘Smile Rancher’ and why haven’t app stores like Google Play Store or Apple App Store taken any action?

As per transaction details accessed by Decode, the money people would spend on these virtual animals would go to the account of Sewing SKY India Pvt Limited — an unlisted company which according to the Indian Ministry of Corporate Affairs website deals in fabrics and is registered in Telangana Hyderabad and belongs to Gangadhar Pathri and Ajay Kumar Pathri.

Application stores like Google Play Store or the Apple AppStore have been unable to take any action because the application is not available on these platforms. People downloaded the application via a specific link shared on WhatsApp.

The app is now defunct.

Who sent them the message?

As per the villagers, a man called Bhishma Pratapspread these rumours. They say that Pratap claimed that his uncle was the one who won Rs 20,00,000 ($24,190).

For those interested in earning extra money, Pratap created a WhatsApp group named "Ranchers no. 1".As the admin of the group, he started adding more and more villagers, he then sent the forwarded applicationlink to the group, which had more than 60 members. Pratap left the group the same day the application stopped working.

How did so many people fall for the scam?

The application called itself a "breeding management investment company from the United States."

It noted that was involved in "offline investment promotion for major breeding pastures and looking for investors who work part-time in the breeding industry".

It further claimed that after 2020, i.e., the pandemic, the companystarted doing its business online and started seeking people from all over the world to join the breeding industry and "make money together".

For residents of the small Bihar village of Maulanagar, this seemed like a good idea to earn some extra money. Most of the village residents belong to a socially marginalised community called the Musahars.

Has anyone filed a complaint?

Kasim Khan, a self-proclaimed victim of the scam, reportedly took action against the fraudulent company by filing a complaint with the Consumer Complaints Court on July 22nd 2022. In his complaint, Khan stated that he had invested Rs 55,000 inthe scheme and attempted to withdraw the amount after two days, but was unsuccessful despite multiple attempts. He alleges that the company, Breeding Management, had now ceased operations and had deceived thousands of individuals through their online scam.

Was it just the one Bihar village that got duped?

Unfortunately no, the app has reportedly spread far from Bihar and has reached Assam.

The people of the small Bihar village got duped in February 2022, and in early July last year, a gym trainer in Guwahati Assam also received the link to that game. He and his colleagues invested in the app and lost thousands of rupees.

(With inputs from agencies)

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