Duping in the SW and HW sector in Gujarat on a rise

Duping and being duped is not a new thing for businessmen in Gujarat. They continuously crafted and made it into a profession and continue to get duped or lay trap for others. That is why, though the co-operative banks were always vulnerable, these businessmen queued first to withdraw money from a sinking bank and then queued to deposit it in another sinking bank.

But of late, instances of duping in this arena have started in a big way even in the software and hardware industry. Recently a firm duped thousands of workers in the name of data entry work. Police complaints have never made inroads into tracing these culprits. And people being duped are not small fries. Big firms like Applitech Solutions, which is now in doldrums, have got duped to the tune of nearly Rs 25

lakh.

The modus operandi is as simple as a Tehelka. Some five to six well-dressed men open a plush office and call themselves managing directors and directors and technical directors. They call themselves exporters or agents of software. They catch hold of vulnerable targets and take money from them as a deposit prior to delivering the software package.

On delivery of the software, this money is promised to be refunded. Once they procure the money, which they call as deposit, they make merry of the system. Even the police find it difficult to trace such entities, since even the employees recruited in their rented office do not know their whereabouts.

But why has it started in Gujarat now? It is because software development has never been the icon in the business directory of Gujarat. So it took years for some thugs to develop theories to infiltrate into this area.

In other sectors, Gujarat has the advantage. It has to its credit 33 companies that have done the vanishing act out of a total of 117 as per the statistics of Department of Company Affairs. Delhi and Haryana follow Gujarat. But these companies duped shareholders by doing the vanishing act. 

The Economic Offences Cell, which looks after this type of crime and the Registrar of Companies have started action against its promoters. But the small fries are not easy to find out and so the person who is duped has no option but to file a petty complaint and then wait for being duped again.

Binu Alex


(CNS)