VIJAYAWADA: With more and more scams, in which companies are promising the general public of higher return on money invested, or land plots at throwaway price or any other ‘products’ and finally cheating them, being unearthed in the State, officials of the APCID want people to be more cautious and report the ‘money circulation schemes’ to the CID, the moment they spot one.
“Greed for higher returns on the deposits made and attraction towards gifts of the customers are the main reasons behind these offenders being able to cheat people. If anyone comes to know about such money circulation schemes, it is requested that they approach the police to avoid getting cheated,” said additional director general (ADG) APCID, Dwaraka Tirumala Rao.
Till date, in all 28 major scams have been unearthed in the State, with the Bommarillu scam, involving Rayala Raja Rao, managing director of Bommarillu Farms & Villas Private Ltd and its sister companies, unearthed in 2014, being the latest.
The company in question cheated people to the tune of around `85 crore through various money circulation schemes.
“In these schemes, at the front end, the promoters will display their products and services and at the back end, they collect money from the customers and sell their product and ask them to refer other persons, from where the network builds,” said Tirumala Rao.
Of all these 28 major scams, barring the AgriGold case, in all other cases, such as N-mart scam, Keshava Reddy School scam, Abhaya Gold scam, Akshaya Gold scam, Avani Gold scam, SIMS scam, Siri Gold scam and others, CID officials have filed charge sheets against the management.
According to statistics obtained from CID, there are 137 economic offense cases pending investigation, 154 pending trail and 65 under inquiry, in the State. CID officials have found that in most of the cases the accused have been widely promoting either the direct marketing (DM), multi-level marketing (MLM), network marketing (NWM), referral marketing or chain marketing schemes and cheating the general public by luring them to invest money with the firms with promises of higher returns or other ‘products’ in a short span. The companies never keep their promises.
Investigation into the Bommarillu scam found that the accused Raja Rao had cheated around 4878 investors to the tune of `85 crore.
Developments in major scams
1. It will take one more month to file charge sheet against the accused in AgriGold scam
2. So far, 11 persons were arrested in Bommarillu Scam
3. Seven persons arrested in N-mart scam. Depositors cheated to the tune of J126 crore
4.In Keshava Reddy School Scam, Correspondent of Keshava Reddy Schools in AP and Telangana State, Nagireddy Keshava Reddy was arrested. He defaulted 11,000 customers to the tune of K750 crore
5. Accused Pushpam Appala Naidu in the sensational Gold Quest scam is facing investigation for cheating 56,000 customers to the tune of J110 crore
6. 19 criminal cases were filed and 11 persons were arrested in Akshaya Gold scam in which 10.1 lakh depositors were cheated K334 crore
7. All these companies did appoint agents and other employees to market their plots, flats, apartment complexes, estate lands, farmlands and other products
8. Raja Rao cheated around 4878 investors to the tune of K85 crore