EOW to seek red corner notice against former NSEL director

Mumbai

: The city economic offences wing (EOW), probing the Rs 5,600-crore National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) cheating case, has compiled all the documents for a red corner notice (RCN) against the exchange’s former director, Hariharan Vaidyalingam.


All documents related to Vaidyalingam’s RCN will be forwarded to the CBI, which will sent them to the Interpol, which will finally issue the notice to all countries. An RCN is issued against an accused who is not in India which helps other countries to locate him and deport/extradite him.

A look-out circular (LOC) against Vaidyalingam has already been issued to all airports in India. So, if he arrives from abroad, he will be detained at the airport itself. “Vaidyalingam is currently believed to be in Singapore. He was given the responsibility to run an exchange over there,” said an officer.

In June 2018, the first RCN in this case was issued against Anubhav Agarwal of the Ludhiana-based Ark Imports. Agarwal is believed to be in Russia. With Rs 719 crore of payment default, ARK Imports is the second largest defaulter in the NSEL cheating case.

On August 29, 2018, Sebi had barred Vaidyalingam from the securities market for seven years in the case of insider trading in the shares of Multi Commodity Exchange. Besides, the watchdog had also directed that a copy of the ruling be forwarded to the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the US Securities and Exchange Commission since he was working in Singapore.

The EOW had asked the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) to verify the authenticity of over 13,000 investors in the case. The SFIO had sent letters to all investors and reported that it had received replies from 7,217 investors. “This does not mean the remaining investors do not exist. We need to find out more about them now and verify everything...” said an officer.

The EOW is also likely to summon former NSEL vicechairman and director Jignesh Shah, who was earlier arrested. He is out on bail. “We have got some fresh evidences during the forensic audit and may summon him soon,” said the officer. EOW has also issued LOCs against 96 persons, including 41 brokers, to nab if they try to leave the country. The police have also begun issuing notices to 147 brokers asking them to inform the investigators about the brokerage they earned while trading on NSEL.

₹500cr Ponzi scam: Investor money diverted for MD’s use

Mumbai

: The city EOW, probing the Rs 500-crore cheating case by businesswoman Nowhera Shaikh, on Tuesday filed a more than 3,000-page chargesheet against her. The chargesheet says Shaikh used a couple of accounts to collect investments from investors and diverted that money to other companies for her use.


On October 23, the EOW registered an FIR against Shaikh, MD of Heera Group of Companies, and others after a Bhendi Bazar resident, Shane Ilahi Shaikh, complained that he had invested Rs 6 lakh in Heera Gold scheme but the company defaulted on payments. The complainant told the police he was promised up to 42% annual returns on his investment. There are around 10,000 investors in Mumbai alone who have been duped by Shaikh. Heera Group agents would mostly target Muslim investors by claiming that the scheme gives a monthly profit and not interest (Interest cannot be accepted in Islam).

“During our probe it has been established that Shaikh ran a Ponzi scheme. We have filed a chargesheet,” said EOW chief Vinay Choubey.

The city EOW brought Shaikh to Mumbai on October 26 from a Hyderabad jail and arrested her. “We have found flow of funds in Shaikh’s personal bank accounts. It has also transpired that four of her companies had no permissions from RBI and Sebi to collect deposits,” said an officer. More than 250 victims’ statements have been attached in the chargesheet. Those named as accused in the FIR include Nowhera Shaikh and several agents.

EOW officers said they have identified 200 bank accounts belonging to Shaikh and her firms. “We have got financial transaction details of more than 75 accounts so far. The total money in these accounts is around Rs 17 crore,” said the officer. The EOW has identified six properties belonging to the firm worth Rs 40 crore. These properties are likely to be attached and later auctioned by the competent authority to recover money for distribution among the investors. The EOW has also appointed forensic auditors in this case.

Shaikh lured investors claiming she had taken a diamond mine on lease in South Africa and later, said she was buying gold from foreign countries for the schemes. However, investigators have found that she had been buying gold from two Mumbai jewellers. Similar cases of cheating have been registered against her in Hyderabad, Aurangabad, Malegaon, Nerul, Kashimira, Thane, Bhiwandi, etc.

Fraud caller wipes out ₹2L saved up for son’s wedding

Saki Naka Jeweller Who Can’t Read English Had Got Alerts On Phone


Sharing bank card details with a caller has made an imitation jeweller lose Rs 1.99 lakh which he had saved for his son’s wedding scheduled to be held in two months.


The amount was withdrawn from the bank account of the wife of Saki Naka resident Suresh Thombre (51). Though Thombre had received transaction alerts on his phone, he did not realise what had happened as he is unable to read English.

The amount was withdrawn in nine transactions and transferred to different accounts.

An official from Saki Naka police station said that they have sought details of the fraudulent transaction from Bank of India. “We want to know which accounts the money was transferred to,” said the official.

Thombre had received a call late in the evening last Thursday. His police complaint states that the caller “scared” him saying that his card would be blocked as it was nearing the expiry. The caller asked him for his ATM card details so that he could help Thombre by preventing the card from being blocked.

The caller then asked Thombre for details of his wife’s card details. The caller then asked him to share the one-time password so that he could start the renewal process and issue a new ATM card, said a police officer. The money was fraudulently transferred between Thursday [January 17] night and the next morning when the last transfer of funds was successfully carried out.

A criminal offence was lodged on Friday.

Thombre has approached the bank, seeking a refund of the amount that was fraudulently transferred Thombre’s nephew, Sudhir Ghanekar, told TOI that his uncle had shared the bank card details after the caller gained his trust by giving out information about his bank accounts. “It is my uncle’s hard-earned money which he had set aside from the profit he made,” Ghanekar said.

Woman duped of ₹68,000 over ‘gift’
A friendship on Facebook made a woman who works with an educational institution poorer by Rs68,000, and she would have lost another Rs 2 lakh had she not checked with the Customs. A man who befriended her, claiming to be with the US merchant navy, under the pretext of sending her gold ornaments as a gift, got her to deposit money in an account for clearance, and duped her. The victim filed a complaint of cheating against Arvind Kumar. N M Joshi Marg police registered a case. TNN

Mira Rd estate agent vanishes after ‘duping’ tenants of ₹1.8cr

Mumbai:

A Mira Road-based real estate agent has disappeared with his family after allegedly duping prospective tenants of “heavy deposit” totalling more than Rs 1.8 crore. Hardik Shet, the agent, is said to have left behind a note in Gujarati, alleging that he was being harassed by a few people and that he feared for his life.


Under heavy deposit, which is common practice in Mira Road and Bhayander, tenants pay a lumpsum amount of Rs 2 lakh to 4 lakh to flat owners. Thereafter, they do not need to pay a monthly rent. The leave and licence agreement is for 22 to 33 months. When the tenant vacates the flat, the owner returns the entire deposit amount.

Last month, 38 tenants who had paid the sum in cheques filed a complaint with Kashimira police. Several victims who had paid in cash, though, do not have any proof of the money exchange. Police sources said the amount real estate agent swindled may well run into Rs 5 crore.

According to the complaint, Shet, who ran a real estate agency at Mira Road’s Vinay Nagar in Sheetal Complex, used to offer flats on rent on heavy deposit. He had moved to Mira Road with his wife and children a few years ago. Initially, he would honour the heavy deposit agreement. Since early last year, though, he began to collect cheques in his name, encash these and tell the prospective tenant that the flat owner had backed out. When the tenant would ask for money, he would say he was looking for another flat. By November-end, the victims realized he had shut shop. His two cars were found abandoned. A case was filed on December 12.

Couple who duped at least 20 of ₹3cr booked

Mumbai

: A couple has been booked for allegedly cheating investors by promising of 48% returns on fixed deposits in their real estate company, said officials of the economic offences wing (EOW) of the city police.


About 20 investors approached the police, claiming they lost around Rs 3 crore in all, but the police said that the amount of fraud could touch Rs 20 crore with more people coming forward. The police said that the firm is not registered.

An FIR was filed against Arjun Sawant, proprietor, Arrows Dynamic Enterprise in Bhandup, and his wife Vaidehi after an investor, Rajendra Deshmukh, lodged a police complaint at Kanjurmarg police station.

“The couple took money for fixed deposits promising 48% monthly return. They advertised their schemes by word of mouth,” said an officer.

Depositors largely include the working class from the suburbs. “The accused told investors that their firm invests in shares, real estate, gold and commodities. Their office is now shut,” said the officer. “Arjun had been arrested in Sindhudurg for a similar offence. We will take his custody now.”

The Weather Channel mobile app misled users

People relied on the most popular mobile weather app to track forecasts that determined whether they chose jeans over shorts and packed a parka or umbrella, but its owners used it to track their every step and profit off that information, Los Angeles prosecutors said on Friday.

The operator of The Weather Channel mobile app misled users who agreed to share their location information in exchange for personalised forecasts and alerts, and they instead unwittingly surrendered personal privacy when the company sold their data to third parties, City Attorney Michael Feuer said. Feuer sued the app’s operator in Los Angeles County Superior Court to stop the practice. He said 80 per cent of users agreed to allow access to their locations because disclosures on how the app uses geolocation data were buried within a 10,000-word privacy policy and not revealed when they downloaded the app. “Think how Orwellian it feels to live in a world where a private company is tracking potentially every place you go, every minute of every day,” Feuer said. “If you want to sacrifice to that company that information, you sure ought to be doing it with clear advanced notice of what’s at stake.” 

New voice phishing scam has been discovered, targeting iPhone users

If email phishing scams were not enough, a new voice phishing scam has been discovered. The scam is particularly targeting iPhone users by making calls that seem like they are coming from Apple Support.

According to TechCrunch, a user, Jody Westby, reported about a call from Apple Support asking for a call back from her. The contact information that came with the number appeared to be from Apple Inc. However, when the user called back, the automated system answered followed by a man with an Indian accent inquiring the reason for the call.