SCAMSTERS INC.

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