Cyberabad Police unearths fake franchisee racket

HYDERABAD: Cyberabad Police have unearthed a franchisee scam operated through a deceptive website and arrested at least 10 people involved in the racket.

According to police, a resident of KPHB fell victim to a fraudulent ITC FMCG distribution scheme, losing lakhs of rupees after applying for a dealership through the fake website "itcdistributor.com." The incident occurred in November 2023 when the victim, seeking a business opportunity, responded to an advertisement on the mentioned website.

Claiming to be ITC employees, a group of individuals sent dealership details and registration forms to the victim via email and WhatsApp. The unsuspecting resident was then coerced into depositing a registration fee of Rs. 25,000 and subsequently duped into paying a total of Rs.7,50,000 as a processing fee.

Acting on a complaint, the police initiated an investigation and exposed the entire franchise scam orchestrated from Patna, Bihar.

Police discovered that the perpetrators created a counterfeit website of a reputed company, using Google Ads to entice potential franchisees. When individuals interested in starting a franchise business searched on Google, the fraudulent website appeared at the top of the results. Once on the website, victims were prompted to fill out registration forms, enabling tele-callers to pose as ITC employees and convince them to invest in the fake franchise. The victims, in turn, ended up paying substantial registration and processing fees.

The main accused, Dheeraj Kumar, managed coordination with accomplices and oversaw financial aspects. The second accused, Ankit, handled the fake website and generated leads for the fraudulent scheme. Another accused, Chandan, facilitated money transfers through provided bank accounts and managed cash withdrawals. Tele-callers Amit Kumar and Gaurav Kumar collected money and facilitated cash withdrawals. Another accused, Raushan, supported tele-callers for the smooth operation of the scheme. Other associates, including Vikas, Raja, Abhishek, Suraj, and others, played roles as tele-callers to convince victims and extract money from them.

In the light of this scam, police have cautioned the public to take the following precautions:

Check the authenticity of the website;

When searching for a website, look for the direct official website rather than those suggested by Google ads;

Do not enter into any fraudulent and fake websites and enter your details;

Don't respond to calls received on behalf of a company claiming to be employees;

Don't transfer any amount to any mule accounts;

Don't share personal IDs/KYC documents and report immediately to the police on 1930/www.cybercrime.gov.in for any cyber-related frauds.