Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): As a suspected multi-crore investment scam involving an arbitrary company surfaced in Kashmir valley, Cyber Police have registered a case into the matter and are looking for a self-styled “marketing officer” of the fraudulent company who won over the gullible investors, sources said. Kashmir valley on Tuesday woke up to social media posts about protests by a group of people in Karan Nagar area of Srinagar.
The protesters said that a fraudulent company named 'Curative Survey Private Limited' had duped scores of them of their hard earned money worth crores of rupees on the pretext of lucrative returns reminiscent of the 'Laxmi Chit Fund' in the famous Bollywood film 'Phir Hera Pheri'. The protesters said that the firm took a huge amounts of money from them over the promise of earning handsome bucks in lieu of a “survey” on the company's app with daily returns of Rs 100 amounting to Rs 3000 monthly. Following the uproar over the suspected multi-crore fraud, Cyber Police Kashmir has taken cognizance against 'Curative Survey Private Limited' and registered a FIR against the firm under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
"A First Information Report (FIR) 39/2023 has been filed against the operators of the "Curative Survey Agency" under sections 66D of the IT Act and 429 of the IPC. The directors of the agency have since disappeared," Cyber Police said in a statement. Explaining the modus operandi of the company, the officer said, "The company made a tempting offer to investors. They (investors) were given assurances that a one-time registration fee of Rs 5,000 would earn them over Rs 45,000 within 15 months from the firm."
"All investors had to do is to participate in a survey of about 20 questions through Curative Survey application everyday through there registered email. The daily survey will fetch them Rs 100 per day and that totals to around Rs 3000 per month. And in 15 months, the amount can total can go around Rs 45000," the officer added.
The officer said that few complainants created multiple email IDs and participated in the surveys in pursuit of more returns. “Some have invested over Rs 25 lakh, some Rs 5 lakh while some trusted the company with their gold and jewelry,” the officer said. He said that an unidentified Daljeet Singh was posing as marketing officer of the company, but has for now deactivated all his social media and LinkedIn accounts even as the the website of Curative Survey has been deactivated.
“So far no arrests have been made but case is being dealt on priority basis," the officer said. In order to prosecute the fraudsters and retrieve their money, the agency has started identifying each and every individual connected to the founding, advertising, and running of the "Curative Survey Agency" in J&K and other States.
A senior police officer stated that some J&K social media influencers are among those being investigated in the case. "Yesterday evening, the bank accounts of this firm at Yes Bank Gandhi Nagar Jammu, HDFC Marble Market Jammu, and ICICI Channi Himmat Jammu were also frozen," he said. On Wednesday, teams of Cyber police conducted raids at five locations related to the scam involving financial fraud worth crores and seized electronic gadgets and documents during searches, an officer said. We are not sure about the exact amount but after in-depth investigations everything will be crystal clear. Thousands of people, including students, pensioners, and housewives are among the complainants," added the police officer.
The company website has turned out to be fake even as the GST number, phone numbers and other details too have been found forged. “The company has offices at Chennai and Jammu and also in other districts of Jammu and Kashmir. Some influencers too had promoted the company. All angles of the scam is being probed," said the officer. He said that preliminary investigation has revealed that the 'Curative Survey' is a 1 year 2 months old Proprietorship Firm incorporated ( UDYAM-TN-02-0162317) on October 22, 2022, having its registered office located at No. 42, A Space, Madipakkam, Second Floor, Thirugnana Sambandhar Street, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
It has been classified as Micro enterprise in the financial year 2022-23. The officer said that it also has another registered office at House No 667, Sector 4, Channi Himat, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir. Meanwhile the purported Aadhar cards of two of the company's directors identified one of them as Mariyadoss Manickam of Pulavarnatham and another as Keerthi Ramesh, also from Tamil Nadu.
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