SCAMSTERS INC.

I keep getting news from people who request me to publish them on this site... I try to stick to news that relate to scams from India, but at times some news really amuse me. Here is one piece that made it to this list....

Three women -- all in their 20s -- are accused of using their sex appeal to rip off dozens of single guys across the city.

According to police, the troublesome trio often met their victims at upscale Manhattan nightclubs and persuaded the men to go to nearby ATMs where the ladies apparently snuggled up to their guy pals and swiped PIN numbers. One victim apparently lost a whopping $5,000 in the scam.

The suspects - identified as Tiffany Rasberry, 21, Barbara Labady, 22 and Subhanna Beyah, 21 - are accused of luring in as many as 50 victims - by apparently offering to give them rides home or to other parties. During the drive, the women would reportedly slip their hands into men's pockets and steal cash and cellphones.

Their sexy-scam came to a draw Monday after they were busted for stealing more than $1,000 from an attorney they met near a trendy hotspot on West 14th Street.

The lawyer told police the women approached him in their car as he was smoking a cigarette outside of the club. They apparently asked him to go to a party with them, so he got in the car and the trio took him to an ATM machine so he could get some cash.

The victim claims Rasberry and Labady followed him and watched as he punched in his PIN number. In addition, he said the two suspects kept touching him in order to distract him and steal his bank card.

When they got back in the car, Beyah said she felt sick, so the victim said he got out of the vehicle as they drove away. That's when he realized his bank card had been stolen. He called police who were able to track the women down and arrest them, but not before the suspects allegedly withdrew $1,600 from his account.

Each woman has been charged with multiple counts of grand larceny and possession of stolen property.

Source: wpix.com

I was browsing as usual and an irresistible AD popped up which lead me to this site


































As i kept digging, something smelt fishy in this site. So I ran a check on the whois record and viola!!! it was surely a SCAM. As I would rightly term it "MLM SCAM".

It is just another get rich quick scheme that is really a pyramid scheme. “Tweet for Cash” claims that you can pay $2.97 for all the information you need to become rich overnight.Well it doesn’t tell you that you will pay nearly $89.90 a month after a 7 day free trail. You make money by scamming others the same way you’ve been scammed.Wanna know more!!! just type “Tweet for Cash scam” and you will see what a shitty scam it is.

I wanted to dig deep into this site, so I clicked one of those link that took me to another website which looked like this....





























and then after filling up the form






























This final page convinced me that this site has a scamsters signature... the way it unfolds made me get out without signing up for their services....

As Martin G Quotes in Yahoo! Answers as

At 19, he was enterprising. But he used his talent in the wrong way. When things went wrong at home, he decided to fund his education
himself.

Now, Nikhil Dhingra from Jhansi has been arrested by the cyber crime police for hacking into three accounts in Bangalore by sending phishing mails. He was arrested on September 14 and has been remanded to judicial custody.

The breakthrough came when Sangeeta M Punjabi, a software professional living in Kumara Park and working at ITPB, lodged a complaint that her account had been hacked. Nearly Rs 31,000 had been swindled from her ICICI Bank account.

Phishing mails are known to originate in Nigeria, but this particular IP address was found to be from India and led straight to the house of Nikhil. When the BTech student had no answers to the questions posed by the cyber crime deputy superintendent of police Renuka K Sukumar, he was arrested.

Police said Nikhil started his `phishing career' early this year after meeting some persons in an online chat room. They forwarded a phishing mail and asked him to work for a commission. After successfully hacking Sangeeta's account, Nikhil sent a similar mail to Ganesh Sharabi of Tavarekere. Soon after Ganesh responded, Nikhil compromised the account and transferred Rs 1 lakh from it.

Enthused by this success, Nikhil sent another mail to Prakash Devulapalli of Sarjapur Road. This time, he went for a bigger amount of Rs 4 lakh. By this time, the police were trailing Nikhil, who was unaware of the developments.

In all the three transactions, Nikhil got a part of the money transferred as commission. He decided to try the fraud on his own and started sending mails to other ICICI Bank account holders. However, almost all the efforts failed. By that time, the police had arrived at his doorstep.

Nikhil's father is a businessman. While the family was conservative, Nikhil was outgoing. After joining BTech, the relationship with his father deteriorated, police added.

Once he got into phishing, Nikhil decided to live life on his own terms. As a first step, he financed his tuition fee for this year and stopped taking pocket money from the family.

CoD DIG Malini Krishnamoorthy said there are a few more aspects to the case which are being investigated.

Source: TOI

With at least 43 incidents of anti-Christian violence, Karnataka saw more attacks on Christians in the first eight months of this year than any other state in India, according to advocacy organizations.

The figure compares with 35 attacks on churches, worship services and Christians during the same period last year in the state, which has become the center of violence against Christians. The states with the next highest incidents of anti-Christian violence from January through August this year were Andhra Pradesh with 14 and Madhya Pradesh with 11, according to figures from the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) and the All India Christian Council.

Former Chief Minister of Karnataka H.D. Kumaraswamy on Sept. 11 called on Gov. H.R. Bhardwaj to rein in abuses by the state's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to ensure that law and order is maintained, reported the GCIC. In several districts of Karnataka during the first eight months of the year, local authorities allowed Hindu extremists to beat pastors, disrupt prayer meetings and worship services, and burn, vandalize, demolish or shut down prayer halls.

After August last year the number of violent incidents against Christians in Karnataka raced up, with a total of 112 attacks on Christians in 2008, and the Christian community fears a repeat of hostilities.

Kumaraswamy noted that a Sept. 10 attack on St. Francis De Sales Church at Hebbagudi, on the outskirts of Bangalore, came just days after Gov. Bhardwaj voiced concern over the security of minorities in the state. Armed attackers broke into the church, damaged statues and other items, smashed windows and destroyed a house behind the building, according to the Evangelical Fellowship of India. Church damages were estimated at 200,000 rupees (US$4,173).

"It is unfortunate that the government did not take any action to curb communal menace even after your caution," Kumaraswamy wrote in a memorandum to the governor, adding that Gov. Bhardwaj was constitutionally bound to stop state security personnel from violating the law.

The former chief minister said he felt that the attack on the church, located close to the Hebbagudi police station on a busy road, reflected growing religious intolerance and tension in the state, and he criticized Home Minister V.S. Acharya for terming the attack a "minor incident."

Archbishop of Bangalore Bernard Moras told Compass that past experience leaves him little hope for future justice.

"The state government has promised to make an immediate inquiry into the recent church attack in Hebbagudi, but nothing has been done so far, and we have no results whatsoever from the Justice B.K. Somashekar Commission of Inquiry made into church attacks last year," he said. "Sad as it is, we feel that justice delayed is justice denied."

Former chief minister Kumaraswamy has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into attacks on prayer halls in the state. The leader of the opposition in the state Legislative Assembly, Siddaramaiah (who goes by a single name), has also demanded a CBI inquiry into all attacks on minorities and places of worship. The Hindu reported that he had asked state Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa to stop blaming others for the mistakes of his government.

Siddaramaiah told media on Sept. 13 that members of the Hindu extremist Sangh Parivar were involved in the attacks on churches.

"The BJP government led by B.S. Yeddyurappa has failed to take action against those involved in these incidents that created unrest in society, and now the chief minister is blaming others for the mistakes committed by his government, which has resulted in a law-and-order problem in the state," he said.

The Hindu reported Siddaramaiah as saying that in an effort to cover up their mistakes, the chief minister and his cabinet dismissed the accusations as efforts to topple his government.

"If the chief minister has any proof to support his statements, let him hand over the issue to the CBI," Siddaramaiah added. "The truth will be out."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also recently remarked that Karnataka has witnessed a number of incidents of communal violence this year.

"What is more worrisome is that the incidents were not limited to one or two districts," Singh said in comments that Chief Minister Yedduyurappa brushed off as untrue; the chief minister referred to the violence as a "few stray incidents" that were "blown out of proportion."

Tensions are high in the districts of Davangere, Mangalore, Bangalore, and also potentially volatile are the districts of Chickmagalur, Chitradurga, Belgaum, Tumkur, Udupi, Shimago, Bagalkot, Dharwad and Kodagu, reported the GCIC.

Chief Minister Yeddyurappa reportedly has instructed police to provide security at all religious venues and directed them to take steps to take preventative measures. City Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari has reportedly said the chief minister ordered security officers to deal sternly with those involved in incidents of religious violence.

The Bangalore Rural police on Sept. 12 reportedly handed over the investigation of the attack on St. Francis De Sales to the Criminal Investigation Department.

Attempted Anti-Conversion Law

Foremost among priorities of the Hindu nationalist BJP when it came to power in Karnataka last year was to introduce the kind of "anti-conversion" law that has provided the pretext for anti- Christian violence in other states.

Alarmed by what they said was an increase in conversions to Christianity, six prominent Hindu leaders on June 25 said that they had urged Chief Minister Yedduyurappa to introduce "anti-conversion" laws similar to those of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, reported The Hindu. Passage of an anti-conversion bill has been left hanging, however, with negative publicity over communal violence and Christian protests against such a bill.

Such laws are designed to thwart forcible or fraudulent conversion, but they are popularly misunderstood as criminalizing conversion in general. The laws seek to curb religious conversions made by "force, fraud or allurement," but human rights groups say they obstruct conversion generally as Hindu nationalists invoke them to harass Christians with spurious arrests and incarcerations

Anti-conversion laws are in force in five states - Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat - and its implementation is awaited in the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. Several cases against Christians have been filed under various anti-conversion laws in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa, but no one has been convicted in more than four decades since such laws were enacted.

Naveen Kumar of the Federation of Christian Churches and Organizations told Compass that Christians from different districts in Karnataka have come out in protest against such a bill since August of 2008. The Christians believe that the passing of an anti-conversion bill in the state would heighten atrocities against them.

Of the 52.8 million people in Karnataka, Christians number slightly more than 1 million.

Source: Rightsidenews.com and compassdirect.org

Orissa mining scam, billed as India's biggest looting of public property, on Monday brought civil society groups and people from
different walks of life to demand CBI probe on the ground that only the country's highest investigating agency can bring the real culprits to book.

They said a number of highly placed persons in the government and administration are suspected to be involved without whom a scam of such magnitude and spaced over years would not have been possible.

They described the vigilance probe ordered recently only after the scam came to the public domain as nothing but a facade and said it is silly to expect the state agency to nail people under whom it is functioning.

At a meeting organized to discuss the mining scam here jointly by Orissa Jana Samilani and Kranti Manch, speakers challenged the "integrity" of people in power and wondered how the government closed its eyes to the looting of ores that continued for years. The meeting, first of its kind without involving political parties, in a resolution said a "group of politicians, officials and business men close to them" had been benefited by the senseless looting of the mineral resources. "The scam has cost the state revenue worth thousands of crores. Those in power were voted by the general public with a lot of hope to see the state achieve social and economic development. But they have let down the people. The precious mineral resources of the state is not safe in the hands of the present government," the resolution said.

Another resolution passed at the meeting said the destruction of forest due to illegal mining has taken away the source of livelihood for lakhs of people, particularly tribals. "The forest, environment, water sources have been devastated leading to ecological imbalance in the mines areas. Since the government has been found incompetent to protect the natural resources a separate committee comprising people from the government and the civil society should be formed for the purpose," the resolution said.

It also demanded separate compensation for the families of people who have been killed by trucks carrying mineral resources. "Media reports indicate in Keonjhar district alone nearly 300 people are getting killed every year by ore-laden trucks. This has rendered the victims' families to live in penury and anxiety. The government must make a list of those killed and award compensation to them," it said. The meeting referred to the environment impact assessment (EIA) reports prepared by mining companies and raised doubts on their authenticity. "When mining has a strong bearing on the environment and lives of local people the government should prepare it instead of asking the private business houses to do it," the meeting said.

Source: TOI

The promotion of Karnataka Chief Justice Dinakaran to the Supreme Court looked uncertain on Wednesday amid protests by the legal fraternity, citing allegations that he had illegally amassed wealth.

Acting on a note from legal luminaries Shanti Bhushan, Fali Nariman, Anil Divan and Ram Jethmalani, Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan summoned Justice Dinakaran to Delhi on September 11. Justice Dinakaran is stated to have denied each of the allegations.

The note had included charges made by members of the Bar of the Madras High Court under the auspices of Forum for Judicial Accountability. It said Justice Dinakaran owned over 400 acres of land in a Tamil Nadu village.

On Wednesday, the chorus against him grew.

President of the SC Bar Association M N Krishnamani and the Delhi HC Bar Association K C Mittal issued a joint statement calling for more transparency in the system through which judges are promoted — and criticising, indirectly, Justice Dinakaran’s proposed elevation.

Shanti Bhushan, Nariman, Prashant Bhushan and Kamini Jaiswal in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister said, “We got very disturbing reports about the integrity of Justice Dinakaran from very reliable sources. We would therefore like you to inquire into it and get it investigated before his appointment is notified.

The Madras HC Bar association members, who made the charges include R Vaigai, Sriram Panchu, K R Tamizhmani, Anna Mathew, S S Vasudevan, Geetha Ramaseshan, Sudha Ramalingam, N L Rajah, D Nagasaila, S Devikarani and T Mohan.

“We are greatly perturbed by the news of his possible elevation to the apex court in view of disturbing reports that are strong pointers to abuse of office and lack of probity by Justice Dinakaran.

Source: Express Buzz

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa had the last laugh on the last day of the six-day session. ‘Coal scam’ – an allegation made by the JD(S) floor leader H D Revanna inside the House, and his brother and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy outside the House, had never come up for discussion.

Yeddyurappa had cleverly made use of the situation to his advantage and turned the table on Revanna.

Yeddyurappa, like an extremely diplomatic politician, used every opportunity to his advantage. His moves were so quick and clever that at one stage, it appeared to be completely stage managed to preempt Revanna from taking up the coal purchase issue for discussion.

Yeddyurappa was successful in sending a message to the public that the JD(S), as a political party, was not interested in discussing natural calamities and interested only in raising closed issues. On September 11, the third day of the session, Revanna submitted a letter to the Speaker preferring to bring a call attention motion on recent coal purchases made by the state government.

He suspected that the purchases were not straight and credible. Basis for his allegation was a judgement by the Karnataka High Court. But his ultimate aim was to finger at the CM as responsible for the purchases. This issue should have come on the agenda on September 15.

On September 14, while replying to the debate on agriculture and rural development, Yeddyurappa, suo moto ordered an inquiry by a retired High Court judge into coal purchases made by successive governments since 2002, including the purchases made by his predecessors S M Krishna, Dharam Singh and Kumaraswamy.

Irritated by this suo moto announcement, Revanna’s younger brother Kumaraswamy, at a press conference on September 15, stooping to a level undeserving of a former chief minister, made unparliamentary remarks against the Chief Minister, which he withdrew later claming that it was an emotional outburst.

Meanwhile, Revanna tried to move the call attention motion in the Assembly on September 15. The Speaker, while Revanna was halfway through the preliminary submission, ruled that since the issue raised by the member was important, he would place it for a detailed discussion in the post-lunch session. The excuse to take it up in the post-lunch session was that the Chief Minister, who was in Mysore, wanted to be present during the debate on the issue. Since the members were completely engrossed in a debate on natural calamities, the coal purchase issue did not come up on September 15.

On September 16, the Speaker placed the discussion on coal purchase on top of the agenda. The CM said he was ready for a debate on coal purchase.

While the BJP members supported the CM, the Congress members demanded to continue with the ongoing discussion on natural calamities, since it was more important.

They even protested in the well of the House. This put Revanna in a tight spot. He was unable to support either of the parties. Finally, the debate on natural calamities continued and the CM gave a reply also.

Immediately after the reply, the BJP members demanded that the privilege motion should be moved against Kumaraswamy for his unparliamentary comment against the CM. In an unprecedented development, these ruling party members had even staged protest in the well of the house. Amidst the din in the House, the Speaker adjourned the House indefinitely.

Revanna was successfully prevented from raising the issue in the House.

Source: Express Buzz

Even as former Karnataka chief minister and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy demanded a CBI probe into the multi-crore coal scam in the Raichur thermal power station, his elder brother and party floor leader in the state assembly H D Revanna stalled the proceedings in the House on Tuesday by staging dharna twice.

Kumaraswamy expressed dissatisfaction over the judicial probe by a retired high court judge ordered by chief minister B S Yeddyurappa into the imports of coal for RTPS over a period of seven years from 2002 and demanded that the government can order CBI inquiry from 1994 when H D Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal Government came to power.

In the state assembly, Revanna took up the issue of the coal import scam as soon as the House assembled in the morning and demanded a thorough debate into the financial irregularies and resorted to dharna along with his party members twice forcing adjournment of the morning session.

With the chief minister away in Mysore to attend the Infosys function along with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Revanna insisted on an immediate debate on all aspects of the coal import scam. Speaker Jagaidish Shettar’s promise to take up the issue after the return of the chief minister was not acceptable to the JD(S) members.

When the JD(S) members led by Revanna rushed to the well of the House to stage dharna to press their demand for an immediate debate, the treasury benches led by transport minister R Ashok, water resources minister Basavaraj Bommai, rural development and panchayat raj minister Shobha Karandlaje and ruling BJP members took strong exception to the unruly behaviour of JD(S) members.

Shettar sharply criticised Revanna for dragging Yeddyurappa’s name into the scandal in the House in his absence without giving notice and pointed out that, ``your intention seems to be to attack the chief minister. You are interested in levelling allegations without following the rules. I have expunged all your remarks.’’

Revanna alleged that the chief minister was directly involved in the coal purchase scam. The government purchased the coal from the Bhatia International Company, Chennai, violating all guidelines of the Centre, he charged

Kumaraswamy, who addressed a news conference, said Yeddyurappa’s announcement in the assembly during the course of his reply to the threed-day debate on agriculture and rural development on launching a new programme, Kalampura, for developing model village in 200 hoblis of the State and said the chief minister was only ``trying to pull the wool over the eyes of general public.’’

On Yeddyurappa’s announcement of launching 36 new schemes aimed at giving a boost to agriculture and rural development, Kumaraswamy wanted to know the source of funding for implementing the programmes. The chief minister as the state’s finance minister should first try to implement the programmes already announced in the Budget, he said.

Ridiculing Yeddyurappa’s offer to visit the residence of his father and former Prime Minister every month and take constructive suggestions if the JD (S) supremo gives up his obsession with his children’s political future, Kumaraswamy advised the chief minister to first ascertain the views of his senior cabinet colleague, energy minister K S Eshwarappa, on Yeddyurappa’s obsession with his son’s political career.

"The chief minister has no concern for the farmers. He did not bother to respond to the letter written to him Gowda detailing the plight of potato farmers in Hassan. He does not have the basic courtesy to reply to a letter written and why try to fool the people by making false statements on taking suggestions to improve the farmers’ problems,’’ Kumaraswamy said.

Source: Daiji World

The special squad of the superintendent of police arrested two persons involved in an ATM card racket and seized goods worth Rs 1,40,000 from them on Friday September 11.

Santhosh (19), resident of Koppa, Mandya taluk, and Girish K (21), resident of Saraswathipuram, Bangalore, were arrested near the ICICI Bank ATM centre at Bendoorwell.

A Maruthi Omni, one laptop, mobiles, copies of a fake driving license, and ATM cards, were seized from them.

A case, of misusing a debit card sent from Bangalore via courier for delivery to a person in the city, was registered in Mangalore rural police station following a complaint. After taking up this case, the special squad personnel nabbed the duo.

The culprits had obtained the ATM-cum-debit card by presenting a fake driving license and later withdrew some money through the ATM.

The police investigation revealed that both conducted the racket by collecting details of account holders of ICICI Bank. Similar cases were registered against the two in Mandya, Bangalore, and Mysore. Police said that they have leads about the involvement of more persons in this case and arrests will be made soon.

Sub-inspector Prakash K, head constable Ananda, constables Rama Poojary, Chandrashekar, Sheenappa, Girish Bengre, Sunil Kumar, Saju K Nayar, Rajendra Prasad, David D’Souza, Mohammed Iqbal, George, and Shiva Naik were involved in this operation.

Source: Daiji World

Credit card racketeers, Santosh (19), native of Koppa and K Girish (21), native of Bangalore have been remanded to jusdicial custody by a city court here on Saturday September 12.

The duo were earlier arrested by SP’s special squad following a complaint registered with the Mangalore rural police station for misusing debit card sent from Bangalore to Mangalore through courier.

It can be recalled here that the duo had siphoned off money using fake credit cards after having collected the details of account holders. Goods worth Rs 1.4 lakh too were seized.

Source: Daiji World

Gulbarga Regional Commissioner and inquiry officer Rajanish Goyal will hold a sitting at the Karnataka Veterinary Animals and Fishery Sciences University (KVAFSU), which landed in controversy over the appointments of ineligible teachers.

According to sources, the office of the Chancellor of Universities of Karnataka had received complaints against the Vice-Chancellor and other higher officials in the university alleging favouritism and corruption while appointing teachers and giving promotions.

The Governor appointed Goyal as inquiry officer on August 10.

Goyal asked those interested to file complaints if any, against the university authorities. Official sources said that the officer had received more than 30 complaints against V-C Suresh Honnappagol and others.

"A sitting will be held at the university at the end of this month,’’ sources said. The complainants alleged that the V-C had promoted some ineligible associate professors as professors.

This apart, while filling the backlog vacancies, two professors were appointed violating the notification and eligibility criteria. One of the complainants alleged that Jagadish Sanganal and Nagaraj, who are presently employed at the Veterinary College in Bangalore were appointed by the V-C due to vested interests.

The recent appointment of four junior assistant professors on ad-hoc basis has also raised many eyebrows.

These appointments should have been done among senior professors by calling applications in a transparent way and strictly on the basis of seniority, the complainants said.

Source: Express Buzz

CBI carried out raids at 14 places, including the residences of two top state officials, on Monday. A senior officer, supervising the raids, revealed that CBI had received a complaint about the involvement of Pradeep Kumar, an IAS officer, in the misappropriation of funds while purchasing medicines and equipment worth over Rs 130 crore.

The purchases were allegedly made during Kumar's tenure as state health secretary. Incidentally, like the fodder scam in which fodder was transported in a scooter, an order was given to a tractor agency by the health department to supply medicines worth Rs 45 crore.

Sources said 14 premises, including 13 in Jharkhand and one in Delhi, were raided by CBI's anti-corruption branch. These included Kumar's official residence at Mayor's Road in Ranchi, another house of his in New Delhi's Paschim Vihar, a room at the Circuit House here and his ancestral property in Daltonganj.

Besides Kumar's official residence in Ranchi, CBI also raided the house of state reproductive and child health (RCH) department director Vijay Narayan Singh and residences and business establishments of Shyamal Chakraverty and Dheeraj Kumar, associates of the IAS officer.

Investigating officials revealed that property worth over Rs 25 crore, documents relating to investments, fixed deposits, land records and deeds of flats were recovered. The recovery list of Pradeep Kumar alone showed fixed deposits to the tune of Rs 1 crore, three flats in Delhi, one each in Ranchi and Rajasthan and a plot in the IAS Cooperative Society.

Kumar, who was the health secretary till June, allegedly did not float tenders for buying medicines and equipment. Later, he was removed from the post. "Kumar was involved in large-scale irregularities in connivance with the state RCH director and two businessmen," said an officer.

At present, this 1991 batch officer is waiting for a fresh posting and his name also figures in the list of those accused of committing irregularities during the appointment of around 125 doctors of indigenous medicine including Ayurveda, Yunani, Sidha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH).

Kumar is the second IAS officer from the Jharkhand cadre to come under the scanner of the central investigating agency within a month. For, CBI had also raided the residence of 1993 batch officer Avinash Kumar, who served as officer on special duty to former Governor Syed Sibtey Razi, on August 3. He has been placed under suspension since.

Source: TOI

The economic offences wing of the Mumbai police has busted a credit and debit card racket in which some shopkeepers had cloned the cards and showed fake transactions.

According to sources, some Nigerians used to supply the accused with cloned cards through which they showed huge purchases to get money from the banks. Hukumsingh Prithviraj Rao (29), who runs Welcome Electronic Shop in Mira Road, was arrested from Panjim in Goa after he fled fearing arrest. Rao has been booked for cheating, criminal breach of trust and forgery.

The police said some other associates of Rao, including two jewellers, are under the scanner. Joint commissioner of police (crime) Rakesh Maria said a few more shopkeepers, jewellers and travel agents are under the scanner for the over Rs 2 crore scam. "We have already arrested two persons--Feroz Shaikh and S Makwana--in the scam,'' said Maria.

The ICICI Bank had lodged a complaint with the Samata Nagar police after it got several complaints from the credit and debit card holders showing huge bills of purchases which they never did.

Based on this, the bank sent executives to check the gaps in the system and were shocked to find out that some shopkeepers were misusing the Electronic Data Capturing (EDC) machines which the bank had given them. EDC machines are given to the shopkeepers to swipe customers' cards after purchases. "Feroz Shaikh, an employee of Surby, whom the bank had given outsourcing work, supplied the EDC machines to several merchants without verifying their credentials,'' said Maria.

And as per new guidelines, any customer making a purchase of over Rs 7,500 has to submit a photocopy of identification proof. During the scrutiny, it emerged that a few NRIs who had not made any purchase too received huge bills. "The bank made inquiries and traced Rao as one of the accused. When the police went through the photcopies submitted by various clients, many were found to be fake,'' said an officer.

"While shopkeepers got a 10% share of the fraud, the Nigerians who are running this racket took away the rest. It's a big racket,'' added Maria.

Source: TOI

The CBI has arrested five employees of the Indian Oil Corporation's (IOC) Sanganer depot in connection with a oil scam. During interrogation
of a HPCL's depot manager, Arun Kumar Suman, and driver Rajendra Singh, it was revealed that one of the IOC employees, arrested on Saturday, alone had sold 2.20 lakh litre diesel to Arun Kumar who later sold it at a rate of Rs 2.50 lakh per 20,000 litre diesel to the tanker drivers.

The drivers had then sold it to some big transporters and dealers in Ajmer, Bharatpur and Tonk districts. Next in the line of fire are some senior IOC officers in Jaipur, tanker drivers and transporters who may soon be arrested by the CBI.

According to CBI officials, the accused have been identified as Lekhraj Singh (operation officer), Shiv Kumar Sharma (operation officer), Shambhu Dayal (charge man), Allauddin Qureshi (junior charge man) and Vinod Kumar (senior foreman). "All of them are deputed at the IOC's Sanganer depot," said a CBI official.

The five accused were produced in court on Saturday and sent to five-day police remand. "During interrogation, one of the accused, Lekhraj Singh, has confessed to having sold 2.20 lakh litre of diesel to Arun Kumar. The diesel was stolen from the IOC pipeline which runs between Kandla and Bhatinda," said an officer.

"Arun Kumar had sold the diesel to some tanker drivers at huge profits. We are searching for transporters and dealers who bought diesel " the officer added.

The CBI had, on Tuesday, arrested Arun Kumar and a tanker driver Rajendra Singh in case of embezzlement in which the CBI team found 1.28 litres of petrol and 4,000 litres of diesel missing from the HPCL's Sitapura industrial area depot.

Source: TOI

The police arrested one more Nigerian on Friday in connection with the online fraud in which a native of Mankadavu, near Pappinissery, lost Rs 40 lakh last week. The arrest of Ise-ifan Immanuel, 35, came barely a week after the arrest of the kingpin of the gang, Shaba Abdul Rasak, 34, by the Cyber Cell of the police led by IG Tomin Thachankery.

The police also recovered several fake documents, including a UK resident permit and copies of passports, from his laptop. The gang is suspected to have links with terrorist outfits, said Thachankery.

Immanuel was arrested at Puthiatheru near here early in the morning. The victims of the online racket run by the Nigerian nationals include a woman from Thottada here. She lost Rs 5.5 lakh, the police said. Another girl in Delhi, a native of Kottayam, had also been defrauded by the gang.

The racket came to light with the arrest of Rasak, who allegedly defrauded Poovankulathil Sherief of Mankadavu. Sherief fell into the trap set by the Nigerian after he received a message in his e-mail address, informing him that he had been chosen as the legal heir of "a wealthy Nigerian who died recently". Sherief was directed to reach Nigeria to approach the Bank of Africa "to claim the $15 million left behind," as per the message.

He was later told to make payments to "meet the expenses to get the amount released from the bank" and he transferred Rs 40 lakh through various banks and money transfer agencies as directed by Rasak.

Obviously, some Bank of Africa staff were also complicit as Sherief had received a communication from the bank too. The police Cyber Cell managed to arrest Rasak after bringing him from Bangalore to Kannur.

With the arrest of Immanuel, it expects to nab others in the racket.

Source: Express Buzz

Claiming to have documents, JDSLP leader H D Revanna said relatives and supporters of a minister have encroached upon 120 acres of land in Hoskote.
"The total value is more than Rs 100 crore,'' he said. Without naming the minister, Revanna demanded action against the accused and recovery of the land. Though, ministers S Suresh Kumar and B N Bachhe Gowda felt the issue cannot be discussed as the matter is pending before court, Speaker Jagadish Shettar permitted the opposition to debate.

G S Kannur, legal expert and counsel for Karnataka State Forest Development Corporation (KFDCL), said the land in question is at Benniganahalli Tennur village. It was leased to KFDCL by the forest department. The corporation moved the local Hoskote court after the encroachment and obtained temporary injunction. But that was challenged in a Bangalore court and the matter is pending.

Source: TOI

For the Yeddyurappa ministry, it's been an unending series of embarrassments in the past few months. After the land scandal involving
former housing minister Es En Krisnaiah Setty and the bribery scam legislator Y Sampangi was mired in, it's the turn of social welfare minister D Sudhakar to leave the BJP government red-faced.

Sudhakar and two others have been chargesheeted by the CBI for allegedly cheating a bank to the tune of Rs 5.5 crore between 2003 and 2006. Sudhakar, a partner of Trishul Enterprises and director of Seven Hills Properties, along with G M Ramesh and K V Hanumappa Reddy, had allegedly colluded with MTV Reddy, a former chief manager of the State Bank of Mysore's Gandhinagar branch, to secure loans in the names of employees of various companies by producing forged documents.

They also produced inflated salary slips and forged IT returns of employees working for HAL, BMTC, KSRTC and other government organizations. An internal investigation by the vigilance wing of the Special Purpose Branch of the SBM revealed the fraud in 76 housing loans following large-scale complaints of default.

The chargesheet was filed on August 13 before a CBI court here. The minister and the three others have been charged with criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating by impersonation, and forgery of security against the loans.

The opposition Congress on Thursday demanded the dismissal or resignation of social welfare minister D Sudhakar for his alleged involvement in a forgery scandal.

"Chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, who professes to be transparent in all his businesses should drop the minister or ask him to resign to make the investigation free and fair," said KPCC working president D K Shiva Kumar.

Expressing similar views, opposition leader in the legislative Council V S Ugrappa said: "If the CM has faith in democracy and law of land, he should either dismiss Sudhakar or ask him to tender his resignation."

Source: TOI

Online job frauds just got bigger, smarter and more authentic. A new batch of fake job offer letter emails specifically targets young IT professionals, and is being circulated by scamsters posing as HCL and Wipro employees.

The emails, promising job-seekers interview calls from these two IT giants, carry seemingly authentic employee codes, hologram of the companies and even the designation of the persons who have sent the letters.

The mails direct interested employees to deposit a nominal fee as 'refundable interview security' in a specific bank and also include the account number to make it look real.



Mail order

The email being circulated offering jobs at HCL, a copy of which is with MiD DAY, comes with the subject: "HCL Direct Recruitments Offer." It reads, "The company has selected 32 candidates' list for IT, Administration and Production departments, as well as is offering you to join as an executive/manager post in respective department."

The email carries the contact details of two people K Rangnathan and Vikas Mehta who mention the mail is 'confidential' and is being sent to 'candidates chosen from a well-known job portal'. The mail also mentions the two are part of the 'HCL Human Resource Department' and includes an employee code ID-11538 as well. "We are sending this mail on behalf of the IT company," the letter adds.

The email asks professionals to deposit Rs 5,250 (in cash) as 'refundable security' in favour of the company's senior Human Resource Department official Ajay Kumar Jha at any branch of the Punjab National Bank. The account number mentioned is 7200002466100.

It instructs job seekers to inform the department about the payment made by writing in at hcl.appointment@dr.com

The mail says after the fee has been deposited, the applicant will receive an offer letter with air tickets for the final interview at the HCL headquarters in Noida on August 24.

The alleged mail from Wipro says, "Wipro has 45 job vacancies in its facilities in Delhi, Bangalore, Noida and Pune." This mail too includes similar cash deposit instructions. It also promises to repay expenditures the candidate incurs during the direct interview with company officials.

Almost real

Cyber security experts are alarmed at this smart duplicity. They point out that fraudsters have created a database and are selectively targeting a specific audience, in this case, software engineers.

Vivek Vohra, a Delhi-based hacker who works to protect online security, said, "Scamsters are cashing in on the economic slowdown. But they have become smarter. These mails are so authentic it is hard to make out they are fake."

Worried firms

While the emails fool youngsters, the companies being framed are worried as well. The two IT firms have strongly condemned the mails. A senior HR official from HCL confirmed they have received complaints and queries about fake job offers. "Criminals are tarnishing our image even though the company has no role in it. We welcome people to approach us to complain against such nuisances. We take such matters very seriously and are working with the police to curb such malpractices," said the official.

Pradeep Bahirwani, vice-president of Wipro's Talent Acquisition department, said, "Wipro advertises job openings on its career website, on registered job portals, staffing partners and through media advertisements.

The advertisements carry the Wipro logo and the Wipro email ID."

Even HCL has posted an advisory warning against fake job offers on its official website. The advisory says, "It has been found that unscrupulous individuals/ placement agencies have been enticing candidates with job opportunity at HCL. HCL wishes to state that the company has never charged money for recruiting candidate nor does the company have authorised agency or firm for recruiting candidate."

Source: Mid Day

The Chennai Sea Port Customs has busted a multi-crore smuggling racket which involved exporting fertilizer brought into the country by
government for sale at concessional rates to farmers.

Five export agents three from Bangalore and one each from Chennai and Pondicherry have been arrested and 1,464 tonnes of Muriate of Potash (MOP) worth over Rs five crore and meant for export to Malaysia and Vietnam was seized at six container freight stations (CFSs) in Chennai and one at Thoothukudi, said Customs Commissioner C Rajan. Search is on for four more export agents, several middlemen and traders involved in the racket, he said.

The seizure is the outcome of a tip-off received by the Docks Intelligence Unit of Chennai Customs about three weeks ago that MOP was being smuggled out by falsely declaring the consignments as industrial-grade salt. Industrial-grade salt or common salt is sodium chloride, whereas MOP, commonly known as potash, is potassium chloride. False declaration is a serious offence under Customs Act and can invite imprisonment up to three years.

On the basis of the tip-off, Rajan had ordered an inquiry and stopped release of 52 containers (1,317 tonnes) awaiting clearance at six container freight stations Viking, Numbal, ICBC, D R Logistics, Gateway and Chandra on the outskirts of the city. A laboratory analysis later showed that the entire contraband was potash. Over 140 metric tonnes of MOP was also seized at Thoothukudi port.

Investigations have indicated that 49 containers of MOP (1,225 tonnes) have already been sent to a firm named Lotus Global and Trading in Malaysia, about a month ago. The commissioner has therefore ordered the steamer agent to recall the consignment. "Four containers have come back so far and the rest are expected to come in the next 15 days. This is the biggest fertilizer smuggling scam unearthed in recent times," said Rajan.

While potash is imported at $630 per tonne (roughly Rs 30,000) from various nations including Belarus and other European countries, government realizes only Rs 4,455 per tonne (MRP fixed by central government for retail sale) from farmers. The rest, about Rs 26,000 per tonne, is treated as farm subsidy. The smugglers had managed to corner large quantities of the fertilizer at subsidised rates and aimed to exploit the margin of profit in international markets.

Summons have now been issued to owners of nine export firms three Bangalore-based companies, four Chennai-based firms, Pondicherry-based Zandra Trading and Vizag-based Blue Ocean Logistics who had filed the shipping bills and invoices for their alleged involvement in the case.

Source: TOI

A 52-year-old man, who allegedly lured people into investing in a teak plantation business promising them high returns, has been arrested
by the EOW of Delhi Police. Ashwani Sud had been operating from swanky office in GK-II for the past 15 years. His clients are mainly residents of upmarket colonies of south Delhi, Jaipur and Kolkata.

According to the police, many people fell for his `Teak Tree Share' scheme under which he sold one unit consisting of two teak trees to the investor for Rs 1250. "He promised investors that one tree, after attaining full growth, could be sold for Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh. While he kept one tree for his company, he gave the rights of the other to the investor,'' said Amulya Patnaik, joint commissioner, (crime). Impressed by the idea, investors bought many units.

"And over a period of time, his company Timber World Resorts & Plantation India Limited had cheated several investors of Rs 22 crore. Of the 21 cases against him, the accused had been arrested in some cases but had subsequently evaded trial and had been declared a proclaimed offender,'' said Patnaik.

The accused, who is the product of a major catering institute in the capital, told the investors that he had bought several acres of land in Amravati in Maharashtra for tree plantation. However, in the process, the company misappropriated the money and defaulted on payments. It was then that the scam was unearthed.

According to Patnaik, the accused had floated his company in 1994 and started functioning from the registered office at M-42 in Greater Kailash-II. However, he kept shifting his base in the NCR. Sud also used to place attractive advertisements in the newspapers. He also roped in his brother Rajesh Sud, the other director of the company in his plan.

Sud is an accused in four cases at Sodola police station in Jaipur and in one case each at Tilak Marg, CR Park and Naraina. Cases are pending against him at special crime branch, CBI and in Kolkata. "We are investigating his role in the medical herb scam worth Rs 100 crore spread across nine districts in West Bengal,'' said a senior police officer.

Source: TOI

"Cybercrime in India, China, Russia and Brazil is a cause of 'particular concern', says University of Brighton's study: Crime Online: Cybercrime and Illegal Innovation"

Yes, India is the hub of global business process outsourcing. But this positive distinction has a negative side also. That is, the world leader in BPO business is also leading in call centre cybercrimes. This and more such findings have found place in a recent study by the University of Brighton, which says recession is driving computer-literate criminals to electronic scams.

The report, 'Crime Online: Cybercrime and Illegal Innovation' (http://eprints.brighton.ac.uk/5800/01/Crime_Online.pdf) , also warns that the current global recession will likely increase this trend of cybercrime still further and cybercrime in India, China, Russia and Brazil is a cause of "particular concern". There has been a "leap in cybercrime" in India in recent years, it added.

This report focuses exclusively on financial cybercrime, specifically credit card fraud and identity theft. Financial cybercrime has increased dramatically in recent years and looks set to increase further as the proliferation of communications technology proceeds apace and reaches regions of the world with many underemployed poor people with information technology skills who can take advantage of cybercrime opportunities.

"Russia, China and Brazil are world leaders in cybercrime, with groups and individuals in India powering up to compete. Yet companies in Europe and the US are increasingly moving IT functions and software development tasks to India, Brazil, Russia and Eastern Europe in a bid to draw on their good IT skills and lower wages", the study led by Professor Howard Rush adds.

Although cybercriminal activity remained low in India, with other emerging economies, there has been a leap in cybercrime in recent years, the study says quoting media reports. It also points to a report which ranked India in 2008 as the fourteenth country in the world hosting phishing websites.

Russia has traditionally been considered the original home of cybercrime, where high technical skills combine with a stumbling economy and a long tradition of organised crime, it says. Russian programmers are believed to be behind the most widely used malwaremaking toolkits such as Mpack and WebAttacker. Dubbed 'the mother of cybercrime', the Russian Business Network (RBN) has been linked by security firms to child pornography, corporate blackmail, spam attacks and online identity theft, although most Russian cybercrime is directed to financial fraud, particularly through botnets and phishing.

Across the world, the report predicts that cybercrime will continue to offer high rewards and low risks both to organised and to opportunistic criminals.

As more and more regions of the world go online, cybercrime is finding new and more permissive environments, especially in developing nations, where cybercrime is gaining a foothold, it adds.

Do you think this bad reputation will affect India's future in business process outsourcing?

Source: CIOL

The business of multi-level marketing companies (MMCs) and chit fund organizations is not confined to Balasore district.

As per reports, they have spread their tentacles to neighbouring Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj districts besides parts of Bhubaneswar, Rourkela and Sambalpur towns.

With the arrest of an MMC's promoter, the Crime Branch (CB) has unearthed several business secrets of such fake non-banking organizations. Promoter of Dream Achiever Saroj Kumar Samanta was arrested for allegedly duping people on the pretext of returning them thrice of their initial investment within a year. The arrest came a day after the CB busted a multi-crore chit fund scam in the state and froze at least 11 accounts, having money worth Rs 107 crore deposited in four banks in Orissa, Kanpur, Mumbai and Delhi.

"There are several such organizations that are still doing business, by fooling people. Investigation is on to spot these companies and nab their promoters. So far, seven MMCs have been detected, but there are 15 more under the CB scanner," said CB DSP P K Panda.

It is alleged that Dream Achiever, which had started business from Balasore since April 14, has stretched its reach to Basudevpur, Dhamra and other parts of Bhadrak district, besides some parts of Mayurbhanj district. CB sources claimed that this MMC had received a deposit of Rs 4.46 crore within four months, while only Rs 2 crore has been paid to its customers. The man behind the organization was also allegedly running another company that went by the name Dream Merchant. This company promised people good returns within a short period.

"Three youths in Basudevpur area have collected more than one crore from the people. But after the arrest of Samanta, they fled the place. As many known personalities have invested with them, they are ashamed to report it to the police. We request the crime branch to nab these frauds," said an investor. Meanwhile, the Crime Branch is continuing raids in different parts of the state and outside. The CB official said promoters of the money circulation schemes through high profile campaign have entrapped lower middle class people eager to become rich overnight.

"By enrolling oneself under such scheme, one would be getting back the initial paid investment and keep gaining financially by enrolling new members. But I am surprised that even after such a hullabaloo, there are reports of people investing in such schemes," Panda said, urging people not to get duped by tall promises.

Source:TOI