I styled billionaire celebrities by day and ran Bitcoin scams by night.

Indian police executed a search warrant on celebrity hairstylist Jawed Habib in an $800,000 cryptocurrency fraud case that affected hundreds of investors, but they were unable to locate him.

Authorities have accused Habib and his son of promoting a fraudulent investment scheme that promised investors abnormally high annual returns on their investments in Bitcoin and Binance tokens.

Celebrity hairstylist involved in cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme

Indian authorities have stepped up their investigation into a tens of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency fraud involving hairstylist Jawed Habib, his son Anos Habib, and their collaborators in a scam worth up to $800,000.

Police did not find Habib at his residence on Wednesday after executing a search warrant.

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Authorities strongly suggest that the system’s core entity, Foricle Global Company (FLC), was run as a family business. The alleged crime is a high-yield investment scam disguised as a cryptocurrency opportunity.

Apparently, the father-son duo used Khabib’s powerful celebrity status to establish credibility with investors. They are said to have lured 100 to 400 people with the promise of exorbitant annual salaries of 50% to 75%.

These revenues are believed to have come from investments in Bitcoin and BNB (promoted as Binance Token) made through FLC.

As of this month, police had filed more than 30 First Information Reports against the Habibs and issued surveillance notices to prevent them from leaving the country.

Cryptocurrency crime sweeps across India

This high-profile case is part of a larger trend of recent large-scale Bitcoin and cryptocurrency fraud in India.

In August, Indian police convicted 14 people, including former politicians and police officers, for their involvement in a 200-bit Bitcoin extortion case dating back to 2018. All were convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

In July, a major security breach occurred at WazirX, a major cryptocurrency exchange in India. The hack resulted in the theft of over $230 million in digital assets.

A social engineering attack occurred against a multi-signature wallet after an attacker tricked a keyholder into approving a malicious transaction.

Collectively, these incidents in India reflect a broader global spike in crypto crime, with 2025 on track to be the most devastating year for stolen funds on record.

By the middle of this year, criminals had stolen more than $2.17 billion worldwide. According to Chainalysis, this amount has already exceeded the total losses for 2024.

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