KOCHI: Sometime in December, Chandra Vadhana, founder of Prayaana Labs, received a call from an acquaintance telling her about a Central government grant exclusively for woman entrepreneurs. The caller, a man, wanted her to meet another man from the ‘central ministry’ who could help her mobilise funds ranging from Rs 5 crore to Rs 50 crore.
But, before that, she had to prepare a 50-page project report, which should contain her firm’s details, financial statements and the company’s plan of action. Once the formalities were completed, she was called for an interview at a five-star hotel in Kochi.
“Since the interview was fixed by an acquaintance who was a reputed professional, I believed that such a scheme exists. There was a lot of paperwork which made it all the more convincing,” she said. However, Chandra soon smelled a fraud.
The man, seemingly in his late 40s, who introduced himself as the Union Minister’s PA kept insisting that she keep the whole deal confidential as the grant was being directly released by the Prime Minister’s Office. Also, everything had to be processed immediately, as the scheme would lapse by March, she said. Chandra’s was not a lone incident. There are several, mostly well-established women, who are being targeted by the man. And almost all the time, the modus operandi remains the same.
Well-planned attacks
According to a senior police officer in Thiruvananthapuram, the fraudster convinces well-known and influential business people — charteredaccountants and lawyers — about the scheme to get access to the women. “He tells them there are several grants for women which are being under-utilised and that its validity would end in a few months. Initially, the person does not bring up financial payments involved and instead, tells them to tell the woman entrepreneurs to prepare 10-50 page project reports for submission to the Central government. This makes it believable,” he said.
According to the police officer, the fraudster only brings up the advance fee payment at a later stage, in small instalments by bank transfer, once the reports are submitted “He may want to play it safe,” he said. He adds that some women have fallen for this fraud. “A woman architect spent nearly Rs 10,000 to prepare her project report. She was disappointed that her hard work and money had gone to waste,” he said. Though a few had reportedly lost money to the tune of Rs 25,000 or so, none of them have come up with a complaint so far.
A woman entrepreneur, who wishes to stay anonymous, said a man had approached her claiming two of her acquaintances had received the grants. “When I cross-checked with them later, they told me they lost some money to him,” she said. Another woman entrepreneur levelled more serious charges. “It is important to investigate how the man had access to us through these business circles. Were those who fixed up interviews for him being tricked into approaching us or were they privy to his fraud?” she asked.
Sure and persistent
Radhika Viswanathan of eWIT (Empowering Women in IT) said it was a close woman acquaintance who brought the scheme to her notice. “She informed me that a man who was highly influential in Delhi circles had claimed we were eligible to receive heavy grants from the Centre. When I showed some interest, the phone calls to set up an interview with him became persistent from her side. She was taken after the scheme and was quite sure it was genuine,” Radhika said.
However, the red flags were evident when I received his visitor’s card. “It claimed he was on the advisory council of certain fancy-named panels under the Prime Minister’s Office. It also had a fake Supreme Court logo,” she said. “He had mentioned to her that the Centre had schemes worth `25 lakh crores for women empowerment which the Kerala government was not willing to utilise for obvious political reasons,” Radhika said.
When contacted, Mahila Morcha Kerala unit president Smitha Menon said they are yet to receive any information on any such fraud. “Four years ago, we had learnt of a man who held interviews with entrepreneurs, mostly men, at a prominent hotel in Kochi posing as Union minister Smrithi Irani’s PA. We alerted the police, but he escaped,” she said.
inside job?
“It is important to investigate how the man had access to us through these business circles. Were those who fixed up interviews for him being tricked into approaching us or were they privy to his fraud?” asked a woman entrepreuner.
Of late, woman entrepreneurs are being targeted by a well-organised fraudster who dangles non-existent central schemes before them as bait. He uses reputed businessmen, lawyers and CAs in business circles to gain the entrepreneurs’ trust and even asks them to submit paperwork to make the ordeal more believable. TNIE investigates chilling details of the scam