B'lore: Another Multi-crore Fraud Unearthed - Woman, Two Others Arrested
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Jul 3: Another case of fraud, again amounting to several crores, has emerged in the IT capital. And this time, the mastermind is a woman.
R P Umadevi alias Uma Balaram, aged 40, reportedly conned over 400 people, with the help of two accomplices, promising their gullible victims of online deals that would earn them quick bucks.
The culprits were rounded up by the city crime branch officials from a house in Ooty in Tamil Nadu three days ago. The two others arrested are Umesh from Uttarahalli and Mohan Kumar from Kumbalgodu. Uma is from Kangeri.
The trio have been conning people since 2007, and the fraud reportedly amounts to Rs 25 crore.
Umadevi, the brain behind the idea, opened SS Enterprises at Kangeri and made use of fradulent website 'clickthrough.com' to lure people. She and her associates told their clients that they would be earning a minimum of Rs 6000 per month simply by clicking on the programmes offered by the website. However, they had to deposit Rs 25,000 for 11 months to get access to the website. The client had to register with a name and password on the website by depositing another few thousands.
What worked in Uma's favour was the trust she managed to gain by making initial payments to the clients. She paid Rs 8,000 to Rs 18,000 to the unsuspecting people who had resgitered, and soon putting all their faith in the venture, the clients started to get others to join, and the network grew. The initial clients thus became 'agents' of SS Enterprises, and collected Rs 6,000 from new clients out of which Rs 4,000 was paid to Uma.
The party lasted until February end, when SS Enterprises was suddenly shut down and the trio escaped to Ooty with the loot. A complaint was registered on February 23, but it is only now that the trio have been caught.
The officials also seized cars, two-wheelers, and other household and electronic items worth over Rs 1 crore.
Umadevi lost her husband and her son in an accident, and was later abandoned by her brother after she reportedly had a relationship with another man. Police said that she used to collect money from people on the pretext of constructing an orphanage.