Four cases of frauds in almost as many months, total loss Rs 1.5 crore and
not one penny has been recovered or the culprit apprehended. Isn't this
shocking?
But what makes this even more painful for the victims to accept is that fact
that elsewhere in the country, several fraudsters have been caught and out
behind bars. So why is the same expediency not visible in Mumbai, which is after
all the financial capital of the country?
Another glaring difference between Mumbai and other cities like New Delhi and
even Jabalpur is that the affected partners here are not showing any initiative
in trying to trace the fraudsters or in recovering their lost money. In fact,
The DQ Week found that none of the partners who have lost money to scamsters
have even bothered to get in touch with the investigating police officers to
find out the status quo of their cases. This lackadaisical attitude could be
another reason why none of the defaulters have been caught yet.
And this attitude seems to have rubbed off on the police as well, who were
unable to give any details about the various fraud cases that they are
investigating. Some of the cops were not even aware of these cases. Assistant
Police Inspector Rajiv Sawant, who looks into such matters, was not available at
the Lamington Road police station to answer queries, when The DQ Week tried to
contact him there.
Mumbai scamsters and their boofy |
Status of cases: While police |
Despite the loss it is shocking to note that partners are not doing much to
safeguard their interests even now. There are dealers who still give away goods
without verifying the antecedents of the buyers citing targets as the culprits.
Partners also blame the distributors for putting pressure on them to reach
impossible sales targets. But when asked why they even agree to these
unreasonable demands and instead refuse to adhere to it, they have no answer.
Incidentally, even the local trade body is not pursuing these cases
proactively. Compare this with New Delhi's Progressive Channel Association of
IT (PCAIT), which pursued Sanjay Gupta of Gravis Computers and was instrumental
in his apprehension. Gupta had duped more than 20 partners of around Rs 2 crore.
And instead of relying only on the police, PCAIT got its act together and caught
him. He is now under police remand and is considering negotiating with his
creditors to make payments to the channel community.
In sharp contrast Mumbai's Trade Association of IT (TAIT), has not been
able to emulate PCAIT's example. But like Umang Mehta, Spokesperson, TAIT,
rightly points out, partners too should take an active interest in pursuing and
lobbying for these cases.
He adds that such incidents can be avoided if the channel community adopts a
more cautious attitude while doing business. He said, “It is not possible to
avoid such things completely, but they can be brought down to a certain level,
provided people take some preventive measures before getting into business with
a new comer. If people follow the guidelines laid down by TAIT, I am sure that
such cases can be reduced to a great extent.”
But now, TAIT is trying to bring some discipline in the channel and is
planning to circulate 'Customer Data Forms' among its members. Partners need
to get this form filled up by customers before doing any transaction with them.
It will contain details about the customer's PAN card number, sales tax
number, permanent address, two references with whom the customer is already
doing business, customers picture and other important details. Along with this
the customer has to submit the photocopies of driving license and ration card as
well.
“Next month we are also going
to appoint an agency, which will verify whether the new entrant is genuine or
not. After this verification he will be given an identity number, and then only
he will be eligible to do business with TAIT members,” informed Mehta.
In the meantime, partners need to wake up to the need to recover their funds
from the various scamsters who are currently absconding. They should lobby for
the early resolution of these cases, not only to recover their money, but also
to send out a clear signal to other defaulters that such acts will be severely
dealt with. Unless, the channel adopts this strict stance, chances are that more
cases of frauds will be prevalent in the near future as well.
DQW News Bureau Mumbai, May 5