According to the prosecution, the HoggPool website promised large profits to its customers, whom it fraudulently recruited.
“They sold a software to people and promised them that with an investment of 4,000 Egyptian pounds they would win 30,000 pounds and with an investment of 100,000 pounds they would win 1 million pounds,” said the host of one of the most watched talk shows.
HoggPool, launched in August, paid customers until February, then suddenly closed and disappeared with the money, the state-run daily al-Ahram wrote, describing the scam as a pyramid scheme.
According to the newspaper, thousands of Egyptians put part of their savings into the seemingly attractive investment, lured by the dollar exchange rate, which is much higher than the official one.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, the suspects – sixteen Egyptians and thirteen foreigners – citizens of the same unnamed country – were detained, 95 mobile phones, 3367 SIM cards and 41 foreign bank cards were seized after the perpetrators prepared to launch a new website called Riot.
The 105 million Egyptians are currently experiencing one of the country’s most severe economic crises. In one year, the value of the Egyptian pound fell by half against the dollar, and inflation was 26.5 percent in January.
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