Mumbai: CP to use Twitter to raise voice against Ponzi schemes

Dont fall for any scheme that promises higher interest than 12 per cent on your investment Mumbais Commissioner of Police CP Sanjay Barve has warned Reacting to middays frontpage report yesterday on a car rental Ponzi scheme the top cop said Soon my Twitter handle CPMumbaiPolice will be used to spread awareness among the public to refrain from such Ponzi schemesThe police chief cautioned People should refrain from any investment promising anything above 12 per cent returns in todays economy If anyone promises such huge returns the public should inform Mumbai Police directlyThis was in response to the middays report on a fraudulent car scheme operating out of Vikhroli East in which hundreds of working and middleclass families got duped The alleged mastermind Maniesh Sethi asked the victims to invest Rs 22 lakh in return for which they would get R35000 per month and a fully paidfor car in five yearsAsked whether the case will be transferred to the Economic Offences Wing EOW the top cop said EOW only probes cases above R6 crore and smaller cases are usually probed at the police station level I will get the details from officers probing the caseDuped investors wait outside Vikhroli police station for news of their money or their seized carsTwitter outreachJoint Commissioner EOW Vinoy Kumar Chobey said I am in touch with the zonal DCP in whose jurisdiction the Vikhroli police station falls and the EOW team is also guiding the local police in the investigationWhile the CP intends to use his official Twitter handle to generate more public awareness Chobey said citizens can also complain directly to the Mumbai Police Twitter handle MumbaiPolice People can also write to dcpeowzonemummahapolicegovin added the EOW chiefHe also echoed CP Barves warning stating EOW has its own intelligence wing and we have carried out suo motu investigation in a similar case We would caution people to be extra alert and not invest in any scheme that promises huge returns against an investment of just a few lakhs which in itself sounds unrealisticMore cases emergeMeanwhile the police continue to receive more complaints in the case One complainant Munna Jaiswal a 50yearold fruit vendor at APMC market invested Rs 6 lakh in all I learnt about the scheme in October 2018 and invested R6 lakh by mortgaging my wife jewelry and paid the rest in cash I never got the promised profits and worse no car was booked in my name The bank had already started deducting EMIs of Rs 16000 and I had to pay extra charges to cancel the loan he saidJasiwal added My relative Papu Jaiswal also sold his ancestral land in Gorakhpur and invested Rs 3 lakh He is jobless and was expecting a monthly income of Rs 35000 from the scheme Jaiswal blamed his friend Ravi Giri who told him about the scheme I suspect Giri might have been hired by the scamster to mislead usJaiswal claimed that he last spoke to Sethi a fortnight ago when the conman said he had sold the company and promised to repay the entire investment soon Interestingly the company issued public notices in leading newspapers asking investors to go to a private hall in Vikrholi where their accounts would be settled However the company directors never turned upRed flags Claims of doubling your money All schemes offering high returns of double money within two months or such short spans have no legal sanction nor they are reliable Postdated cheques as guarantee These cheques can bounce when you finally present them Claims of wonder project or agricultural fund There are no projects especially agriculture based that can give returns in less than a year In fact tree plantations take at least 10 years to mature Giftpyramid schemes Gift schemes and chains are an offence under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes Banning Act 1978 Claims that scheme is run by a registered company Registered companies are not allowed to promote and run any such schemesCourtesy Mumbai PoliceAlso ReadMumbai Param Bir Singh appointed as new chief of the AntiCorruption BureauCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates