For a while now, a US-based businessman became a part of the non-Left ecosystem on Twitter. Several high profile individuals followed him and patronised him. Neel Patel alias Hitesh Patel had also promised to launch a social media platform that would rival Twitter. However, recently, grievous allegations have surfaced against the individual. Only recently, he had sent iPhones to non-Left celebrities as a mark of ‘appreciation’. However, few knew that a potential scam was lurking behind the scenes.
The allegation of potential scam came to the fore on February 15, 2021, when Netizens Nishant Singh and Abhimanyu Srana came up with a thread alleging that one Twitter user Neel Patel alias Hitesh Patel has been scamming people for more than 15 years. Nishant has uploaded a 30+ minute video on his YouTube channel and made a detailed thread on what he has dug on Patel, a US-based businessman, in the last couple of months.
OpIndia went through the allegations and explanations given by Neel. We also contacted Suhel Khan, whose name was mentioned in the thread as one of the alleged co-conspirators. Here is what we learned till now.
Allegations made by Nishant and Abhimanyu
In the thread and video, Nishant and Abhimanyu gave an overview of what they allegedly found about Neel Patel’s ‘businesses’ in the last 15 years. They made several allegations which we will list down one by one.
Exposing serial scammer Hitesh Patel a.k.a. Neel Patel
— Nishant (@nishant_india) February 15, 2021
video made with @abhimanyusrana #ScamviaTwitter https://t.co/ZbQVrb3wgp #ScamviaTwitter
The Sweden Visa Scam of 2005-06
The first allegation they made against Neel was about the Sweden Visa Scam of 2005-06. Nishant claimed that in 2005-06 Patel ran a fake job scam in which he promised jobs in Sweden. For that, he took hefty fees from every individual who had applied. To complete the paperwork, he asked everyone to submit documents required for the work visa. He arranged fake documents, including fake passports for those who could not arrange the required documents. Nishant claimed that Patel had stayed in one Hotel Aaram near Ahmedabad for a few months and met people at the hotel itself.
Fake Swedish visa scam. Embassy had to finally put an advertisement in newspapers to warn people. He escaped from India after that pic.twitter.com/qHlQHE8O29
— Nishant (@nishant_india) February 15, 2021
When he failed to secure a work visa for anyone, his clients demanded a refund for the payments they made. At that time, he allegedly threatened them that as they had submitted fake documents, they have committed fraud. To save themselves from any legal prosecution, no one filed a complaint against him. However, the Sweden government got a hint of what he was doing, and they issued an official statement in which they clarified that there were no such job offers for Sweden and people should not give money to anyone to secure a job in Sweden.
Scams in the United States
After the scam unveiled, Patel allegedly shifted to the United States. Nishant further alleged that during that time period Bitcoins were gaining popularity. Neel found an opportunity in the market and started investing in Bitcoins. He joined several groups and talked to people worldwide while presenting himself as an expert in the market. After spending some time in the groups, he slowly started luring people for his new venture named Pennytraders.
Abimanyu alleged that Patel told people that he had installed scalpers that collect scraps of bitcoins and promised profit worth USD 5 to USD 10 or even more to the investors. He used the same template everywhere. He allegedly gave a return to a few influential people in the beginning who promoted him and showed how they made money with Patel’s help. When hundreds of people joined his scheme, and he collected enough money, Pennytraders was closed abruptly.
Autotrader – the trading scam
Abhimanyu further explained how Patel lured people into his new venture Autotrader in which he allegedly gave trials to people. When they were convinced, they started adding money into his application for trading. At one point a man invested USD 17,500 in Autotrader. After some time his profits reached to USD 50,000. Due to some family emergency, when that investor tried to withdraw the money, it never went through.
Nishant said when people say that they may never get the money back, they forgot about the profit and started working on getting a refund of the original amount. It took months for them to receive refunds, and several investors are still waiting for the refunds. The person who was trying to withdraw money for the family emergency could only get it back allegedly after one high profile individual got involved. A few months ago, a petition was also filed against Patel on Change.org.
The Bitcell scam
The alleged Bitcell scam was an interesting venture by Patel. He claimed that people could lease Bitcoin by giving only 20% of the cost of Bitcoin and earn profits. At that time, Bitcoin’s price was rising at its all-time high. In this scam, another person identified as Suhel Khan was involved. Nishant alleged that Khan had some Congress connections too and is a Gujarat based businessman.
Hitesh(Neel) patel BitCell Scam partner Suhel Khan facebook profilehttps://t.co/mm2f0DqsBs
— Nishant (@nishant_india) February 15, 2021
Bitcell facebook page link https://t.co/WFtaB2tGUn pic.twitter.com/lDz3hACQI0
The alleged theft of Twitter ID of a band
Nishant alleged that Patel stole a band’s official Twitter handled before 2020 and started using it with his own name. The name of the band was Night Terrors of 1927. In January 2020, one of the band members approached Twitter and asked them to reclaim the account, but he could not succeed.
hey Hitesh aka Neil you hacked @jarrodgorbel music band account .. pic.twitter.com/ceDQ9qcaKt
— Nishant (@nishant_india) February 15, 2021
Corona lockdown became an opportunity for Patel
Nishant and Abhimanyu claimed that when lockdown happened in India in March 2020, Patel saw an opportunity and invested lakhs of Rupees in the name of charity and helping people in need. He allegedly made his image of a successful trader and businessman who do social work. He got in touch with several nationalists including Major Punia and several others who believed his stories.
NaradPay, Squeaks and iPhone scam
Nishant said that once he gained the trust of the nationalists, he allegedly formulated another scam on Twitter. He offered iPhones, Samsung Phones, tablets and other gadgets for free as Diwali gift. Everyone was free to avail the offer, and all they needed to pay was shipping fees. Nishant alleged that almost 8000 gadgets were sold out of which only a few hundreds were delivered. He claimed that he is a partner with Apple which Nishant alleged is a fake claim.
Nishant said that when someone ordered any gadget via his social media application, he gained access to the gallery and copied all content, including personal photographers without any intimation. When someone tried to expose him on Twitter or any social media platform, Patel allegedly used sensitive personal photographs to shut their voices. Some people did try to expose him, but they never got the response they should have got from the social media platform. On the other hand, Patel allegedly sent a troll army to send threats to those who tried to expose him.
Whoever has downloaded the Squeaks social media app, have unfortunately been hacked. You yourself gave access to your gallery while installing the app. But hacking ones private pics, is already a serious crime.
— Nishant (@nishant_india) February 15, 2021
Here is a screenshot of him, openly flaunting his hacking. pic.twitter.com/h0VeTHZtLk
Patel also claimed that his relative is associated with BJP and his father was PM Modi’s classmate. If Patel is to believe, he has to deliver over 8000 gadgets which will cost him over Rs.40 crore. Nishant alleged that Patel does not have this kind of funds and will never be able to fulfil the promises he made.
He says that Modi ji comes to his house and pays often visits.
— Nishant (@nishant_india) February 15, 2021
He also claims that his family has been associated with the BJP for long. But upon my investigation inside his village, I came to know that none of his family members are either associated with the BJP pic.twitter.com/5tMgnwSGGf
The warehouse address that Patel gave was also fake. Nishant said that when they sent someone to verify the address, they found that it was the office of an IT company. The owner of the IT company claimed that he had attended over 20 people who came to inquire about the whereabouts of Patel.
The egyaan scam
Another scam Patel allegedly ran was of egyaan. He offered classes to people in which he would teach them how to trade in the market. In return, he had charged as high as Rs.45,000 from every person. Around 800-900 people joined his classes. When people started to realize there is no benefit from his sessions, they started to demand a refund. Anyone who demanded refund was allegedly kicked out from the groups.
The Sqeakscoin scam
Patel launched his own cryptocurrency by the name of Squeakscoin. He offered every coin for Rs.132,000. To promote his currency, he offered to buy one get one free offer with every coin. He also offered a referral bonus for everyone who brought more members to the scheme. In reality, according to Abhimanyu, Squeakscoin has no encryption based on blockchain. He further said that what the buyer gets is an over-priced graphic image and nothing else.
During this scam, Patel alleged made several crores. Nishant was able to access details of only one account in which Patel had received over Rs.9 crore out of which around Rs.9 crore were already withdrawn and the balance was mere few lakh rupees. It is unclear how much money Patel made out of this scam.
Squeaks coin scam. Cryptocurrency coin sold for 1,32,750 ₹. All people got was the world’s most expensive jpeg. Has collected over 9 Crore ₹ in 1 account alone.
— Nishant (@nishant_india) February 15, 2021
Masked (privacy)
ye @nto1927 ke liye ki humare paas har chij kaa access hai
kanhaan se paise aaye knhaan gaye pic.twitter.com/Dlplhz7eXc
Every time someone pressurized Patel to return their money, he duped someone else and paid their investment to old investors. He kept scamming people for years by circulating money from one person to another. Nishant further alleged that While successfully running several scams, Patel saved credit card information of his clients and used these details to pay-off those who pressurized him to return their money. As per Nishant, Patel had some cases filed against him in the US for the alleged fraud.
Credit card fraud case in USA. Used somebody else’s credit card for a large sum of money.
— Nishant (@nishant_india) February 15, 2021
Case against Hitesh Patel Aka Neel Patel in Louisville USA
jab ekdum paise kam pad jate hai to logon ki illegally store ki hui credit card ko charge karta tha
(in USA no OTP required) pic.twitter.com/aqYd2jRCv1
The account Nishant was able to access was in the name of Patel’s parents. It is unclear if they know what their son is allegedly doing.
Suhel Khan’s side of the story
OpIndia contacted Suhel Khan to learn his side of the story. Suhel said that he was associated with Patel only till 2018. When he stopped working with Patel due to health issues, many clients were waiting for payments or refunds. Khan said that in the screenshots which were in the thread were used he was just explaining how to punch PIN codes to withdraw funds. Khan repeatedly claimed he never intended to dupe anyone.
In 2020, Patel again contacted Khan and asked him if he wanted to join in selling cryptocurrency. Khan said he asked him to first refund the money of every person from previous businesses and only then he will think of working on anything new. Khan who had served in Air Force for 23 years and currently working as a contractor running his own drilling company, claimed that he is only in contact with Neel to make sure whoever has any pending refunds get their money back.
Khan further added that he was shocked to see his name in the thread as he never lied to anyone and even he gave his Bitcoin to Patel for trading which he never returned. Khan also said that while there are speculations that he is associated with any political party, in reality, he has no connection with Congress, BJP or any other political party.
Neel’s explanation
Neel Patel has posted several explanations on Twitter.
He posted some screenshots in which he alleged that someone tried to extort USD 5000 before the expose.
Points to be noted:
— NEEL (@nto1927) February 15, 2021
1. Some of Big Handles in my Hand
2. Monday means Today exposing me
3. For what? Freaking $5000 they are running an organized campaign since last 3 Months. 👏
Let’s wait for it 🤣 https://t.co/fLgzkJS2gv pic.twitter.com/fuI9N0cBpV
In one tweet thread, he clarified that Major Punia has nothing to do with any of his ventures. Major Punia only visited him once when he was in the US.
Creating unwanted controversy and forcing people to put a Tweet without listening side of story is what left now? Alr8 call me a scam but only with proof of after not getting proofs.
— NEEL (@nto1927) February 16, 2021
In one of the tweets, Patel claimed that he could prove that he was not even in India during 2005-2006.
I will come today, Ulte laptop ke saath nahi live proofs ke saath, including my passport which will debunk the lies, in 2005 – 2006 I was not in India what they are claiming some sweden story. https://t.co/tcfPWDL5oP
— NEEL (@nto1927) February 16, 2021
In another Tweet, Patel claimed that he took an available handle and his account was verified because he is a shareholder in Twitter.
Bhai, Time and again said I had chosen free handle and verification done after that ask Twitter why they have verified because I am an Investor holding Twitter shares.
— NEEL (@nto1927) February 15, 2021
Patel has claimed several times in the last 24 hours that he needs some time to counter all allegations against him. We will update the story when he posts any explanation against the allegations.