GUJAR KHAN, May 7 A schoolteacher has swindled thousands of people of billions of rupees in a Ponzi scheme that offered investors new cars for their old cars or a minimum 15 per cent profit per month, Dawn has learnt.

Master Mohammad Ishtiaq Bhattis scheme unravelled after the post-dated cheques he issued started bouncing and promised new cars stopped turning up.

A Ponzi scheme offers unrealistic profits only to catch more investors and pays the profits from new investment and lasts as long as new investment continues at a substantially higher rate than the outflow in profits.

Dozens of Master Ishtiaqs gullible victims, spread from Rawalpindi to Mirpur, have registered cases of fraud against him in local police stations but the master player of the scheme is untraceable for the past one month.

Since his disappearance, with an estimated Rs5 billion of his investors, Ishtiaq Bhatti has earned the name 'Master Double' - an echo of the now forgotten Double Shah of Wazirabad.

Both thrived on the greed of people who fell for patently unbelievable returns on their investment.

Master Ishtiaq Bhatti was a teacher in Government High School Smote, near Bewal town in the eastern part of Gujar Khan.

On the sidelines he started offering new car for any old car “invested” with his Bariq Syndicate established in Rawalpindi, after six months - and earned confidence by honouring the promise.

As his fame spread, he attracted investors not only from Gujar Khan but also from surrounding areas as far away as Mirpur and Rawalpindi. Their number increased as Master Doubles agents and sub-agents roped in clients from the rural folks, some of whom borrowed money to invest in the fantastic scheme.

Local people of these areas were so blinded by the prospect of getting rich overnight that they persuaded their relatives settled abroad to join in too.

However now that the Ponzi scheme has gone bust, the lives of hundreds of investors have been shattered. The victims are demanding justice and want Master Ishtiaqs name to be put on Exit Control List to prevent him from fleeing the country.