Woman lands in cop net for duping customers online

Kumar Sambhav / TNN / Sep 29, 2008, 02:03 IST

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The Andheri police have booked the MD of a Malaysian company for duping people by selling them products at a price almost 10 times higher than their market value.

Woman lands in cop net for duping customers online

MUMBAI: The next time you see an advertisement pop up on your computer screen, offering an exciting business opportunity, be careful. It could well be a trap to dupe you and people you know.
In one such case, the Andheri police have booked the managing director of a Malaysian company for duping people by selling them products at a price almost 10 times higher than their actual market value.
Ebanesar Michael (30) works as a financial consultant in Sion. In January 2007, he saw an advertisement of a multinational company offering an opportunity to earn Rs 3 crore a year. "I registered my name and contact number on the website. The company started contacting me immediately. I was called to its office in Chakala, where I was shown samples of some 'rare gold coins'," he said.
Michael told TOI that the company sold the coins under a chain marketing scheme. "It promised that every member in the chain would get a weekly commission based on the number of customers he brought to the company. The firm also claimed that the price of the coins would rise manifold in the coming months and we could sell them through the internet," he added.

Michael bought three coins for Rs 93,000. He also made around 20 of his acquaintances buy the coins. But then, even after waiting for many weeks, none of the members in the chain received any commission.
"I tried to contact the company but there was no response. I visited its office but it was shut. We then tried to sell the coins through the net but no one responded to our advertisement," said Christy Raj, an insurance agent and a friend of Raj who bought one such coin for Rs 30,000.

A homemaker who did not wish to be named said, "I bought an imported watch and two coins for Rs 92,000. When I realised that the scheme was not working anymore, I tried to sell them in the market but my personal jeweller told me that the total price of the articles was not more than Rs 10,000."
Michael and his friends then lodged a complaint against the managing director of the company, Pushpam Naidu. "We have got three complaints against her, amounting to Rs 3 lakh. But we anticipate a fraud of crores as 14 cases have already been registered countrywide against the company," said senior inspector Pradeep Suryavanshi.
The officer said a Malaysia-based company puts up advertisements on the internet seeking customers for its products. Orders have to be placed online and the payment to be made either through demand draft or credit cards. The company's offices in India are at Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore.
"Naidu has been booked under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Scheme (Banning) Act. She is in a jail in Chennai, where she was arrested for a similar case in four months ago," he said.

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