PESHAWAR, Dec 17: Of late, a mysterious figure surfaced in Doaba Town village of Hangu district and became very popular with locals in next to no time.

The reason being that he pays a handsome profit to people depositing money with him. Interestingly, 'Double Shah' as he is known in the area has yet to make a public appearance. He operates through his agents.

People and Doaba police told Dawn on Saturday that 'Double Shah' whom no one had ever met had been paying a profit of Rs19,000 to depositors against the Rs100,000 investment within 45 days of cash payment. His agents have installed signboards and banners in the town to attract customers.

In 2007, police arrested a Pir 'Double Shah', Sibtul Hassan Shah, and his accomplices in Punjab for looting people over false promise to double their deposited money. Later, the National Accountability Bureau was tasked with investigating the fraud.

After the fraud was reported, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan began a campaign to create public awareness of fraudulent investment and loan schemes launched by private companies, non-corporate entities and individuals.

Living in Zawer Ghundai two kilometers southwest of Doaba Town village, Double Shah reportedly began his tempting scheme three years ago and has now scores of clients from Hangu and Kohat districts and Kurram Agency.

Police said they knew nothing about the mysterious person.

“We have no idea about his name and origin. What we know is that people call him Double Shah,” he said, adding that he had a network of agents operating from Kohat to lower Kurram Agency.

It is learnt that more and more people in these areas are withdrawing money from their bank accounts to put it into the money-spinning scheme offered by Double Shah, negatively impacting on the banking sector in the area.

A local banker said clients of his state-owned bank withdrew more than Rs20 million over the last two weeks to benefit from the tempting offer.

“Banks in Doaba and its adjacent area are almost on the verge of bankruptcy as a large numbers of small account holders are withdrawing cash to invest it in the Double Shah scheme,” he said, adding that if the situation persisted, banks would have to shut down their branches.

The banker said branches of the state-owned and private banks were losing clients and profits to Double Shah.

There are also reports about a growing trend of the people mortgaging their immovable and moveable properties and obtaining loans from bank on interest before giving cash to the mysterious person's agents for big monthly profit.

A local, who wished not to be named, said he had deposited Rs300,000 with an agent of Double Shah and was getting profit on a regular basis. “The agent is the guarantor and is directly dealing with me,” he said.

Mohammad Amin, a resident of lower Kurram Agency, said he had applied for a bank loan and would deposit the money with Double Shah for high profit. He claimed people from Gujrat and Gujranwala in Punjab were also showing up for 'opening accounts' with Double Shah.

Since people of Doaba and its surrounding areas are deeply religious, Double Shah's agents are exploiting religious sentiments by circulating fatwa (decree) issued by noted Islamic scholars and clerics in favour of their business.